Silesian police have arrested four citizens of the Czech Republic who, since the beginning of the year, have been engaged in mobile phone thefts in the Silesian Voivodeship and beyond. During a Thursday operation on the streets of Bytom, all four were charged. A preventive measure of temporary arrest has already been applied by the court against three of the detainees.

Thefts as a Source of Income

A group of Czech citizens allegedly made mobile phone thefts a steady source of income, operating since the beginning of January 2026.

Arrest in Bytom

The dynamic police operation, which ended successfully, took place on Thursday afternoon on the streets of Bytom, in the vicinity of one of the retail chains.

Preventive Measure

The court has already applied temporary arrest to three of the four detainees. They face up to twelve years of imprisonment.

Scope of Activity

The thefts occurred not only in the Silesian Voivodeship but also included other regions, indicating the organized nature of the crime.

On Thursday, February 23, 2026, on the streets of Bytom, officers from the Criminal Division of the Provincial Police Headquarters in Katowice conducted a dynamic operation resulting in the arrest of four citizens of the Czech Republic. All detainees are alleged to have been involved in organized mobile phone thefts since the beginning of January this year, which constituted a steady source of income for them. The operation was the result of joint work by criminal detectives from the Katowice headquarters and officers from ten other police units in the region. Permission for units from different regions to conduct the investigation may indicate the cross-border nature of the case. All detainees have been charged, and three of them have been placed under temporary arrest by the court. According to information, the entire group was supposed to appear in the vicinity of one of the retail chains, where their presence became the direct trigger for police action. The criminal activity was not limited to the Silesian Voivodeship, indicating a larger scale of the operation. The phenomenon of cross-border organized crime, particularly in the area of property theft, has been a problem in the Central European region since the 1990s, following the opening of borders after the fall of communism. Poland and the Czech Republic, as members of the Schengen Area, cooperate in this area through institutions such as Europol.The prosecutor's office has not yet disclosed the exact value of the loot or the estimated number of stolen devices. The potential penalty facing the detainees can reach up to twelve years of imprisonment, a consequence of qualifying their acts as a crime committed by an organized group. The operation in Bytom demonstrates the scale of cooperation between Polish police units in combating this type of crime.