A young convert arrested in Poland for planning an attack on behalf of the Islamic State

The Polish Ministry of the Interior has reported the arrest of a young man who allegedly planned an attack with explosives and who had contact with the Islamic State terrorist group.

According to the official statement issued today, the detainee, who lived in Poznan (in the west) and is 18 years old, was preparing an attack on a “state office building” in some big city in Poland and for that he planned to use a belt with explosives.

Stanislaw Zaryn, the Polish minister who coordinates the anti-terrorism and intelligence services, told the media that the case “reminds us that Poland is a country threatened by Islamic terrorism“.

[Operación antiyihadista en Tudela de Duero: la Guardia Civil detiene a una supuesta terrorista]

The young man, of whom no further information has been released, has Polish nationality and converted to Islam last yearafter which he managed to “establish permanent contact with people who claimed to be representatives of the Islamic State terrorist organization in order to act in coordination with them,” according to the Polish authorities.

In addition, according to investigators, the alleged terrorist “was modeling his personality after people like Osama bin Laden” and “was heavily radicalized.”

[Interior detecta yihadistas que difunden propaganda en juegos online para captar jóvenes en España]

Immediately after the arrest, members of the Polish anti-terrorist unit searched the home of the defendant and people with whom he had contact, which provided “evidence of the crime he planned,” according to the official note. The agents of the anti-terrorist unit found in the apartment of the defendant “information on how to make explosives” and “materials to make a ‘shashida’ belt, capable of carrying explosives.”

The prosecutor’s office has decreed the provisional arrest of the young man for three months, on the charge of “participating in a crime of terrorism, with the aim of committing an attack against many people and/or large facilities”, which can carry a sentence of up to 10 years in prison.

Currently, there is only one person imprisoned in Poland for preparing terrorist attacks in coordination with Islamic radicals, the Pole Dawid L., who was arrested in Radom (central area) in 2015 and sentenced that year to 15 years in prison for raising funds for a terrorist organization and plan attacks.