Poland Detains Student Over Planned Christmas Attack

Polish security services have detained a 19-year-old student suspected of seeking to establish contacts with Islamic State and charged with preparing an attack at a Christmas market that could have caused mass casualties, authorities said on Tuesday.

Mateusz W., a student at the Catholic University of Lublin, wanted to commit an attack using explosives and planned to join a terrorist organization, said Jacek Dobrzynski, a spokesperson for Poland's special services.

"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 during a press conference.

He declined to say in which city the attack was to be carried out so as "not to cause panic."

He added that the man was detained in late November in his apartment in Lublin, eastern Poland, and Internal Security Agency officers seized data carriers and items related to Islam.

The prosecutor's office charged Mateusz W. with "undertaking preparatory actions to carry out a terrorist attack that could have resulted in the death or serious injury of many people." The court ordered him detained for three months.

In mid-June, Poland charged three 19-year-old men suspected of gathering pyrotechnic materials and planning terrorist actions, reportedly including an attack on 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," said Dobrzynski.

"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."