WOT troops have initiated a rigorous search operation to locate a suspected surveillance balloon that was initially detected on Friday night, soaring from the direction of Belarus.
According to a spokesperson from the Territorial Defence Force (WOT), around fifty soldiers from the 8th Kujasko-Pomorskie Territorial Defence Brigade actively scour the area near the village of Kaleje in the Mazowieckie province, located north of Warsaw.
Witold Sura, the WOT press officer, told the Polish Press Agency that “since the morning, 50 soldiers from the 8th Kujasko-Pomorskie Territorial Defence Brigade have been working there.”
At 1 a.m. on Saturday, radar contact with the object was lost in the vicinity of the village of Kowalki, near Rypin in the northern Kujawsko-Pomorskie province. Subsequently, WOT troops promptly initiated a search operation in the area on Saturday morning, expanding their efforts to the village of Kipichy in Mazowieckie. The search operation continued throughout Sunday.
According to unofficial information obtained by reporters from RMF FM, fragments of an object resembling a balloon, which may have flown into Poland from the direction of Belarus, were discovered on private property near Szczecinek. Soldiers from the Territorial Defence Force have been searching for it since Saturday.
Concerned about public safety, the Government Safety Centre (RCB) issued an alert on Saturday for three northern provinces, advising residents not to touch the object if discovered and to immediately notify the police.
“A search is ongoing for an aerial object resembling a balloon,” the RCB conveyed via Twitter and text messages sent to residents in the three provinces. “If found, do not pick it up, inform the nearest police station.”