The key facts

  • The Gliwice prosecutor's office is investigating an attempted recruitment for sabotage in the interests of a foreign intelligence service; the case has been handed to ABW
  • The recruiter 'Joker' offered $30,000 for the arson of the Flytronic plant; the account has been linked to a number from Saratov Oblast
  • The investigation follows an August fire at a WB Group facility in Skarżysko-Kamienna, which Donald Tusk called sabotage

Investigation in Gliwice

Polish prosecutors are investigating an alleged plot to set fire to a plant supplying military drones to Ukraine, TVP World reported on Thursday. The facility in question is Flytronic in the city of Gliwice in southern Poland, owned by WB Group — Poland's largest private defence manufacturer. The Gliwice prosecutor's office said it had opened an investigation into an attempt to recruit a person to commit sabotage in the interests of a foreign intelligence service. The case has been handed to the Internal Security Agency (ABW).

How the plot was uncovered

According to the outlet Vot Tak, the plot came to light earlier this month: one of its journalists, posing as a Belarusian looking for work, contacted a recruiter via Telegram. The recruiter, using the alias Joker, first offered payment for setting fire to cars with Ukrainian licence plates, and then offered $30,000 for setting fire to the drone plant. According to the outlet, the recruiter's account was traced to a Russian phone number registered in Saratov Oblast.

Context: the August fire

Flytronic manufactures FlyEye reconnaissance drones, which Ukrainian forces use to adjust artillery fire. The investigation follows a fire at another WB Group facility in Skarżysko-Kamienna in August, which Prime Minister Donald Tusk called 'an act of sabotage.' Prosecutors are determining whether that fire was deliberately set in the interests of a foreign intelligence service.