Poland fast-tracks prosecution of flood looters and detains two for spreading disinformation

Prosecutors in Poland have announced that they are fast-tracking cases against people who have been caught looting during ongoing major floods that have devastated the southwest of the country.

Meanwhile, a man who had reportedly been dressed as a soldier and was spreading false claims that the army was planning to detonate flood defences was today detained by the security services. Another person was arrested by police for spreading disinformation on social media about looting.

Pilne! Funkcjonariusze ABW zatrzymali właśnie osobę, która przebrana w mundur dezinformowała mieszkańców o rzekomym planie wysadzenia wału przeciwpowodziowego. Trwają czynności ABW i prokuratury.

— Donald Tusk (@donaldtusk) September 19, 2024

“Due to reported cases of looting in flood areas and repeated information posted on social media, the prosecutor’s office has taken action to prosecute the perpetrators of such crimes,” announced the distinct prosecutor’s office in the city of Świdnica on Thursday afternoon.

It said that a motion to pursue expedited proceedings against one man – accused of stealing alcohol from a convenience store in flood-stricken Lądek-Zdrój – had already been approved.

Another such motion – against a person accused of stealing household appliances and a bicycle from a flooded building in Krosnowice – was also expected to be approved today.

The prosecutors added that proceedings are underway against two people in relation to the theft of alcohol from a petrol station in Kłodzko, an incident that was caught on film and widely shared on social media.

🇵🇱🌧️
W Kłodzku szabrownicy okradli lokalną stację paliw @GrupaORLEN. pic.twitter.com/ZEOsAqgWlM

— WarNewsPL (@WarNewsPL1) September 16, 2024

Prosecutors also said that they had visited a jewellery store in Lądek-Zdrój widely reported in the media to have been looted. However, they said that the allegedly injured party had not filed a report of a crime.

In their statement, the prosecutors also noted that reports of “alleged foreign looters travelling in a red bus in flooded areas…has not been confirmed yet” but that “the case is still being investigated”.

Shortly after the flooding started at the weekend, isolated reports of looting began to emerge. On Monday, the defence minister announced that military police – armed with night vision and thermal imaging devices – would assist police in preventing looting and that perpetrators would be “severely punished”.

On Thursday morning, the deputy commander of police, Roman Kuster, reported that ten people have so far been detained on suspicion of looting, including one who stole equipment worth 20,000 zloty (€4,700) from rescue workers while they were sleeping in a university dormitory in Wrocław.

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Separately, on Thursday evening Prime Minister Donald Tusk announced on social media that officers of the Internal Security Agency (ABW) “have just detained a person who, dressed in a uniform, was disinforming residents about an alleged plan to blow up a flood embankment”.

That followed a previous announcement by Tusk in the morning that “a man dressed in a uniform has been located who visits places pretending to be a soldier and says that levees will soon be blown up”.

The prime minister added that the man “is not an amateur” and was driving a car that had false number plates. He appealed to the public not to believe any rumours of the type being spread by the suspect and to report any sightings of him to the authorities.

Namierzono człowieka przebranego w mundur wojskowego, który informował w różnych miejscach, że będą wysadzone wały, to już nie jest amatorka, nie wierzcie w to i natychmiast informujcie służby – powiedział premier Donald Tusk. https://t.co/IWZiQ49xHy

— tvn24 (@tvn24) September 19, 2024

Today, police also announced that they have detained a person who spread false information on social media about “armed looters” walking around flooded areas without any intervention from the authorities.

The individual will be charged with violating a law against hindering rescue operations, which is punishable by up to five years in prison.

News of the man’s arrest was criticised by opposition politicians, who accused the authorities of using excessive measures.

Szanowny Panie Ministrze, @TomaszSiemoniak, Komendancie @PolskaPolicja, potrzebne odniesienie się do tych informacji.

Jeśli rzeczywiście mowa o autorze wspomnianego postu to mamy kolejny problem. Wpis był o sposobie działania TVP, która chyba nie prowadzi akcji ratowniczej.… https://t.co/bLZjwImmVd

— Stanisław Żaryn (@StZaryn) September 19, 2024

Main image credit: Patryk Ogorzalek / Agencja Wyborcza.pl

Daniel Tilles is editor-in-chief of Notes from Poland. He has written on Polish affairs for a wide range of publications, including Foreign Policy, POLITICO Europe, EUobserver and Dziennik Gazeta Prawna.