Polish cybercrime police arrest 23-year-old over planned attack on politicians

Online threat detection

Officers from the Krakow division of the Central Bureau for Combating Cybercrime (CBZC) discovered an appeal posted on 6 August 2026 on a Telegram channel focused on firearms. The author asked members of the channel whether anyone was prepared to give up their personal freedom in the name of the nation to carry out a planned attack against more than a dozen individuals. The post described the political leadership as an oppressive duopoly that had governed Poland for over two decades. Investigators identified the account owner as a 23-year-old resident of eastern Poland and began tracking his online activities. Cybersecurity officers moved to locate the suspect before any organizational steps could advance.

Suspect detention and property search

On 12 August 2026, police officers apprehended 23-year-old Mikołaj T. at his residence in Tomaszów Lubelski in the Lublin voivodeship. Because investigators suspected that materials intended for an attack might be hidden on the property, they requested assistance from a Border Guard handler with a dog trained to detect firearms and explosives. The canine search yielded no weapons or explosive components on the premises. Officers confiscated computer hardware, mobile phones, and illegal narcotics during the search of the building. The suspect had previously been detained in 2024 on separate narcotics possession charges.

Criminal charges and detention order

The District Prosecutor's Office Kraków-Śródmieście Wschód formally charged Mikołaj T. with multiple serious offenses under the penal code. The charges include taking actions to create conditions for an act directly aimed at genocide, preparing crimes against peace, humanity, and war crimes, and publicly inciting criminal acts. A district court in Krakow approved a prosecution motion to place the suspect under pre-trial detention for 30 days. If convicted on all counts, Mikołaj T. faces a maximum prison sentence of up to 20 years. Legal authorities ordered psychiatric examinations to determine whether the suspect was legally sane when publishing the threats.

National Prosecutor Dariusz Korneluk confirmed the investigation during an appearance on television on Friday morning.

We can say at this moment that activities are underway. Indeed, police officers browsing various websites came across posts suggesting the possibility of committing crimes against politicians, very serious crimes.

Interrogation testimony and disinformation response

During questioning by prosecutors, Mikołaj T. admitted to writing and publishing the messages but asserted that he acted out of stupidity without intending to injure anyone. His published messages had called for serious individuals to join him in making changes to prevent the country from disappearing from the map. Prosecutor Mariusz Boroń of the Kraków Regional Prosecutor's Office presented the suspect's political arguments to journalists during a media briefing.

The content of this post indicated that the author was dissatisfied with the rule over the last dozen or so years exercised by political groups, which he described as a duopoly, and it was against them that the described attack was to be directed.

Following public disclosure of the case on 21 August 2026, fact-checking portal Sprawdzamto.pl identified a series of false narratives circulating across online platforms. Automated accounts and commentators falsely claimed that the suspect was a Ukrainian citizen or asserted that the case had been fabricated by authorities to distract the public from unrelated issues.