Polish police have detained a man suspected of threatening and planning an attack on Prime Minister Donald Tusk, Interior Minister Marcin Kierwiński announced on Sunday, 11 October. The arrest follows an urgent security operation launched after authorities received information about a possible assassination attempt targeting Tusk and Deputy Prime Minister Władysław Kosiniak-Kamysz, Poland’s defence minister.
Kierwiński confirmed the detention in a statement published on X on Sunday afternoon, saying police had located the man suspected of threatening and planning an attack on the prime minister.
Tusk subsequently confirmed the development and thanked officers for their response.
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In a statement on his official X account, the prime minister said the man who had threatened an assassination attempt had been detained, praising police for their swift and decisive action.
The arrest marks a significant development in a case that prompted an emergency meeting of Poland’s security services earlier on Sunday.
However, authorities have not publicly disclosed the suspect’s identity, the alleged method of attack or whether formal criminal charges have been brought.
Interior minister confirms arrest
Kierwiński was the first senior government official to publicly announce the detention.
In a statement published on X, the interior minister said that a man who had threatened and planned an attack against Tusk had been apprehended by Polish police.
The announcement followed several hours of coordinated activity involving the police and national security agencies.
According to reporting by Onet on the detention, Jacek Dobrzyński, spokesman for the minister coordinating Poland’s intelligence services, said the man had been detained in Lower Silesia, in southwestern Poland.
The newspaper Rzeczpospolita reported that officers apprehended him in Wrocław, the region’s largest city.
The minister’s announcement establishes that a detention has taken place. It does not by itself establish that the suspect committed a criminal offence or that investigators have confirmed every aspect of the alleged attack plan.
Threat initially involved prime minister and defence minister
The operation began after Poland’s State Protection Service (SOP), which is responsible for protecting senior government officials, received an email containing information about a possible attack.
The warning referred to Tusk and Kosiniak-Kamysz, who serves as both defence minister and deputy prime minister.
According to officials, the information was passed to the police and prompted an urgent response from Interior Minister Kierwiński and Tomasz Siemoniak, the minister responsible for coordinating Poland’s intelligence services.
Representatives of the police, SOP and the Internal Security Agency (ABW) met at 11am on Sunday at the agency’s Counter-Terrorism Centre.
Following the meeting, Dobrzyński told journalists that authorities considered the information extremely serious.
He said security officials believed there was a high probability that the threats could be carried out, although he declined to provide details of the evidence underlying that assessment.
Government spokesman Adam Szłapka also described the warning as unusually concerning compared with threats routinely received by public officials.
The statements were reported by Associated Press in its coverage of the emergency response.
What investigators know about the reported threat
Questions remain about the origins of the warning and precisely how the detained man was connected to the suspected attack.
According to reporting by Rzeczpospolita, the information was sent to a publicly accessible email address belonging to the State Protection Service.
The newspaper reported that the person who submitted the warning had described information about a possible attack rather than necessarily identifying himself as its perpetrator.
Separately, TVN24 reported details of the warning suggesting that its author had described online contacts involving an extremist organisation and discussions about firearms and a possible attack.
Those details have not been independently confirmed by Poland-24, and authorities have not publicly established the relationship between the email’s author and the detained suspect.
The available information also does not establish whether an attack was imminent, whether weapons had been obtained or whether other individuals were involved.
Police have not publicly announced charges or disclosed whether additional suspects are being sought.
No confirmed connection to recent school violence
The security alert emerged during a period of heightened concern following several violent attacks at Polish schools.
Earlier on Sunday, Tusk held a separate meeting with government ministers and security officials to discuss school violence and online material encouraging attacks.
However, the two operations concerned different threats.
Rzeczpospolita reported, citing its sources, that the warning concerning Tusk and Kosiniak-Kamysz was not connected to the recent school attacks.
There has also been no publicly established connection between the detained man and any foreign government or intelligence service.
Further details expected
The detention is the first confirmed arrest linked to Sunday’s warning concerning Poland’s senior government officials.
Tusk has praised the police response, while the interior minister has described the suspect as someone who threatened and planned an attack against the prime minister.
Investigators have not yet released the information necessary to independently establish the nature, preparation or credibility of the alleged plot.
It also remains unclear whether the initial threat against Kosiniak-Kamysz forms part of the allegations concerning the detained man.
The case is therefore moving from an initial security warning into an active investigation involving a detained suspect.
Any criminal responsibility will depend on the evidence gathered and subsequent legal proceedings.
