Poland’s Internal Security Agency detained six people over alleged exports of defense-related components to Russia, a case authorities say may have supported ammunition and weapons production. The agency said the suspected transfers could strengthen Russia’s arms industry and threaten Poland’s security interests.
Four suspects, including a 37-year-old Russian woman, were charged with espionage and ordered held in pretrial detention for three months, ABW said. The other two were placed under noncustodial preventive measures. All six also face allegations of involvement in an organized criminal group and violations of rules on cross-border trade in defense-sensitive goods and technologies.
Tomasz Siemoniak, Poland’s minister responsible for coordinating special services, said the suspects are five Polish nationals ages 25 to 52 and the Russian woman. ABW said the investigation concerns a network allegedly moving substantial quantities of military-use components to Russia for ammunition and weapons production.
Officers searched 21 locations in the Warmian-Masurian, Pomeranian and Greater Poland voivodeships between Oct. 21 and Nov. 2, the agency said. Przemysław Nowak, a spokesman for the National Prosecutor’s Office, said the components included shell casings and projectiles. He said their value exceeded 2 million zlotys and that the alleged activity spanned Poland, Lithuania and Russia from at least June 2023 to December 2025. ABW’s statement did not specify the items, value or period.
Siemoniak connected a broader escalation in Russian activity to the war in Ukraine, Poland’s support for Ukraine and major transport corridors. He also said nearly 100 people had received suspect status in ABW investigations into espionage and sabotage since Jan. 1, 2024.
The investigation is continuing under the supervision of the Podlaski field office of the National Prosecutor’s Office’s Department for Organized Crime and Corruption in Białystok, ABW said.
