Polish Police arrest youth for threatening terrorism online

Polish Police have arrested a 17-year-old youth for writing on a social networking site that he was planning a terrorist attack in Warsaw. The Police Police Directorate said today that he faces up to 10 years in prison.

Polish Police officers received information from Interpol that a posting to a social networking site said a terrorist attack would be taking place in Warsaw. The author of the posting claimed “this is not a joke” and referenced the case of Norwegian right-wing extremist Anders Behring Breivik, whose rampage at the end of July cost 77 people their lives.

Experts in the fight against cyber-crime determined that the 17-year-old youth who had confided his plans online was from Płock, a town located northwest of Warsaw. When police officers came for the boy, he is said to have been surprised and to have offered no resistance. Experts are now investigating his computer.

“People writing such things on the internet should be aware that Polish and foreign services monitor the web. Such postings can end very unpleasantly for their authors,” warned Krzysztof Hajdas of the Polish Police Directorate’s press department.