Polish prosecutors have launched an investigation into a suspected plot to set fire to a factory producing military drones for Ukraine, after a Russia-linked recruiter offered to pay $30,000 for an arson attack.
The suspected sabotage attempt targeted a Flytronic facility in Gliwice, southern Poland, owned by WB Group, the country’s largest privately owned defense manufacturer.
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Prosecutors in Gliwice said on Thursday that an investigation had been launched into an attempt to recruit someone to carry out sabotage on behalf of a foreign intelligence service.
The case has been handed to Poland’s Internal Security Agency (ABW), the country’s main domestic intelligence service.
Plot exposed by journalist
The plot was exposed earlier this month by Vot Tak, TVP World’s sister channel, after one of its journalists posed as a Belarusian looking for work and made contact with a recruiter on the Telegram platform.
The recruiter, using the pseudonym Joker, initially offered money to set fire to cars with Ukrainian license plates before proposing a much larger attack on the drone factory.
Vot Tak traced the recruiter’s Telegram account to a Russian telephone number registered in the Saratov region in southwest Russia.
Flytronic manufactures FlyEye reconnaissance drones used by Ukrainian forces to direct artillery strikes, while its parent company also produces Warmate attack drones, which are designed to crash into targets and explode.
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Previous factory fire
The alleged plot comes after a fire at another WB Group facility in Skarżysko-Kamienna, south-central Poland, in late August.
Prime Minister Donald Tusk described that incident as “an act of sabotage,” while prosecutors launched an investigation into whether the blaze had been deliberately started on behalf of a foreign intelligence agency.
Poland, a key military supporter of Kyiv, has repeatedly warned of Russian sabotage operations on its territory since Moscow launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022.
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