Poland arrests teen, alleging Christmas market attack plot

Polish security services have detained a 19-year-old man, accusing him of seeking to establish contact with the "Islamic State" terrorist group and of plotting an attack on a Christmas market. They did not specify where.

Polish authorities said on Tuesday that they had arrested a 19-year-old university student on suspicion of plotting an attack on a Christmas market and seeking contact with the self-styled "Islamic State" terrorist group. 

A spokesman for Polish special services, Jacek Dobrzynski, said that the suspect wanted to commit an attack using explosives that could have caused mass casualties. 

What investigators said about the case

"The man was very fascinated by Islam, sought to establish contacts with the Islamic State, and was preparing an attack in Poland, in one of the cities during a Christmas market," Dobrzynski said. 

He declined to say which city the alleged attack plot targeted so as "not to cause panic." 

Dobrzynski said that the suspect, a student at the Catholic University in the city of Lublin, to the southeast of the capital Warsaw, had been detained in November and had been trying to procure materials for the attack. 

He said he was arrested in his apartment. Investigators seized data storage devices and items related to Islam. 

The suspect was charged with "undertaking preparatory actions to carry out a terrorist attack that could have resulted in the death or serious injury of many people," and a court ordered that he be detained for three months. 

Call for vigilance

Dobrzynski noted the arrest in June of three young men accused of gathering explosive materials and planning terrorist actions, reportedly including a plan to attack a school in the northern Polish city of Olsztyn. 

"You are familiar with this issue from Olsztyn, now we have another example of preparing an attack before Christmas," Dobrzynski said, also making reference to the Bondi Beach attack in Sydney.

"We are shocked by the incident in Sydney, we are shocked by the attacks that occurred in previous years before Christmas in other European countries. Let's remain vigilant." 

German authorities announced five arrests on Saturday in connection with an alleged plot to attack a Christmas market in Bavaria.

Edited by: Wesley Dockery