Law enforcement officials in central Poland said Monday that a 48-year-old Iraqi man has been arrested on charges of possessing explosives.
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However, satellite news channel Polsat News has reported today that the explosive traces that were allegedly found on the man’s luggage and clothes at hotels in Lodz and Krakow. He was arrested at a hotel in Lodz on Sunday and was reportedly in possession of notes on preparing terrorist acts against French supermarkets in Poland. Earlier he had stayed in Switzerland and Sweden, before being deported.
Prosecutor Beata Marczak added that the man was detained last week and charged Sunday with “possessing trace amounts of explosive material”, which could result in up to eight years in jail. Polish authorities have placed the man on two-month detention while ABW agents determine whether the man was acting alone or as part of a criminal group.
That day in Krakow, Pope Francis’ schedule will include visiting the Divine Mercy Shrine, hearing confessions of young people there and celebrating Mass in the St. John Paul II Shrine.
“The inflow of people form the Middle East to Poland is excluded, because neither us, nor the European Union are able to create an effective system of discerning refugees from terrorists”, the prime minister said.
World Youth Day is a unique way to deepen your faith and grow closer to Christ, by means of prayer and the sacraments, together with thousands of other young people who share your interests and ambitions, “the website for the event states”.
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John Allen and Inés San Martín are broadcasting from downtown Krakow, in the eye of the World Youth Day storm.
