Poland Probing if Fire at Drone Facility Is an Act of Terror
Poland opened an official investigation into whether a fire at a facility belonging to the country’s largest drone producer WB Electronics SA was an act of terror carried out by foreign spies.
The fire at the facility, which produces drone components, broke out shortly after midnight, special services coordinator Jacek Dobrzynski told reporters on Monday. It was quickly extinguished and the company is able to resume production, WB spokesman Remigiusz Wilk told Republika TV.
WB Electronics, which supplies drones to Ukraine, is one of Poland’s key arms manufacturers as the country spends nearly 5% of its gross domestic product on shoring up its defenses amid a growing threat from Russia.
In recent years, the nation has faced multiple acts of sabotage with Warsaw accusing Moscow of orchestrating the attacks. Russia vehemently denies any such activity.
Read more: Russia’s Escalating Hybrid Attacks Put Europeans in a Bind
“Given the nature of the plant’s production, which is important to national security, it is natural that intelligence officials have taken an interest in the incident,” Dobrzynski said. “We are treating this matter as a priority; we need to determine whether this was an act of sabotage or if the fire was caused by something else.”
Local police said in a post on X that around midnight they received a call from a security company that an anti-theft alarm had been triggered at the site. Police are now working with an expert to determine the cause of the fire.
Polish prosecutors said they started an official probe in a case involving actions of foreign secret service against the country. They will investigate an “act of terror” of deliberate setting fire to WB’s premises by planting an explosive device containing flammable materials.
The prosecutors said the fire is estimated to have caused losses of at least 15 million zloty ($4 million).
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