For months, Minsk and Moscow have allegedly been testing the response of Polish services. Almost every week, so-called smuggling balloons fly into Polish territory from Belarus. The same happened today. Experts, however, have no doubts that Russian and Belarusian services are using this method to test Poland’s air defense systems. How has the prosecutor’s office in Białystok responded to these hostile actions? It turns out that a vast investigation is being handled by ONE prosecutor – and from the Economic Crime Division at that.
“The proceedings cover events from March 2024 to the present,” added Prosecutor Artur Sztachelski.
At the beginning of February, the Niezalezna.pl portal revealed that no comprehensive investigation had been launched so far covering all violations of Polish airspace by objects sent from Belarus. There is not even a dedicated investigative team analyzing such incidents.
“At the National Prosecutor’s Office, no team of prosecutors has been appointed to conduct proceedings concerning violations of the airspace of the Republic of Poland through the entry of balloon-type objects from the direction of Belarus. According to communications provided by the Operational Command of the Armed Forces, the flights of these objects were monitored and did not pose a threat to the security of Polish airspace. They were identified as smuggling balloons, which means that the assessment and clarification of these incidents remain within the competence of customs services,” Prosecutor Anna Adamiak, spokesperson for the Prosecutor General, said at the time.
Such a situation concerns experts, especially since even the Operational Command of the Armed Forces eventually admitted after one of these incidents: “The Belarusian side made another attempt to conduct reconnaissance and test the reaction of the Republic of Poland’s air defense systems.”
“Avoiding the serious classification of the perpetrators’ actions is a manifestation of turning a blind eye to the problem. By avoiding calling things by their proper names, one avoids the potential need to explain the lack of any tangible results of a possible investigation into espionage conducted by an organized criminal group, or into dispersed cases classified in a way that from the outset indicates the lowest possible degree of gravity,” one expert explained.
Since the series of troubling incidents has been taking place mainly in the Podlaskie region, TV Republika asked the District Prosecutor’s Office in Białystok about the actions taken. A response was received only after two weeks.
Confirmation was obtained that the office “is supervising an investigation concerning the repeated air transport, using balloons equipped with GPS systems, of cigarettes of various brands without Polish excise tax stamps, which were brought into the country without customs declaration and presentation to the customs authority, thereby exposing the State Treasury to a loss of tax revenue.”
So first and foremost – smuggling. However, the case also involves acts contrary to the Act on Special Solutions to Counteract the Supporting of Aggression Against Ukraine and to Protect National Security.
“The proceedings cover events from March 2024 to the present,” Prosecutor Artur Sztachelski added. This means that incidents from nearly two years are already being examined, and new ones continue to occur regularly.
Another piece of information is therefore surprising.
“No investigative team has been appointed in the case,” admitted the spokesperson for the Białystok prosecutor’s office. “The proceedings are registered in the 2nd Economic Crime Division and are conducted by one prosecutor.”
“Activities are commissioned to a team of investigative and operational officers from several services. We do not provide further details,” Prosecutor Sztachelski added. “We have no information that another unit, for example the Regional Prosecutor’s Office in Białystok, is conducting comprehensive proceedings concerning violations of airspace.”