Former ZOMO officer detained by the ABW. He reported readiness to act for the Belarusian intelligence service

The National Public Prosecutor’s Office of the Republic of Poland filed a bill of indictment against Grzegorz M. accusing him of readiness to act for the Belarusian intelligence service. According to the spokesperson of the Minister-Special Services Coordinator, the accused is a former officer of ZOMO (Motorized Reserves of the Citizens’ Militia – editor’s note) and the Civic Militia (MO).

The investigation, in this case, was conducted by the Internal Security Agency (ABW) under the supervision of the Mazovian Branch of the Department for Organised Crime and Corruption of the National Prosecutor’s Office in Warsaw.

“The prosecutor accused the accused of declaring readiness to act for the benefit of a foreign intelligence service against the Republic of Poland. Further charges concern possession of firearms and ammunition without the required permit,” the National Prosecutor’s Office informed.

For the acts alleged in the indictment, he may face up to 8 years in prison.

“Due to the necessity to secure the proper course of proceedings, on the motion of the prosecutor of the Mazovian Regional Department of the Department for Organised Crime and Corruption of the National Prosecutor’s Office in Warsaw, a preventive measure in the form of temporary arrest is applied against the defendant,” the National Prosecutor’s Office explained.

The detention of Grzegorz M. was announced in mid-October 2021 by the spokesperson of the Minister-Special Services Coordinator Stanisław Żaryn. 

“On May 4, 2022, the prosecution office filed an indictment against Grzegorz M. (name withheld pursuant to Poland’s privacy laws) charged with demonstrating his readiness to cooperate with the intelligence branch of the State Security Committee of the Republic of Belarus (KGB) and attempting to provide it with classified information. M. was nabbed by the ABW in late 2021. Before he retired in 2001, he had worked for many years in different uniformed services, including communist-era ZOMO (riot police) and MO (police) as well as the Polish Border Guard,” Żaryn informed in a press release.