A luxury Ford Mustang confiscated from an intoxicated motorist has officially joined the Masovian police fleet for operational duties. The routine law enforcement action sparked a political firestorm after Law and Justice MEP Waldemar Buda falsely claimed the vehicle was a new official car for the Ministry of the Interior. Government officials have since dismissed the allegations as a primitive fake, clarifying the car's role in public safety.
Vehicle Confiscation
A Ford Mustang was seized under Polish regulations allowing the confiscation of vehicles from drunk drivers.
Political Controversy
MEP Waldemar Buda claimed the car was for the Ministry's head, leading to accusations of spreading misinformation.
Operational Use
The Masovian police confirmed the sports car will be used for patrol and operational purposes rather than government transport.
A Ford Mustang confiscated from a drunk driver has joined the police fleet in the Masovian Voivodeship, a routine law enforcement action that became the subject of a political dispute after a PiS member of the European Parliament posted a misleading photo of the vehicle on social media. Waldemar Buda, a PiS MEP, shared an image of the car with a suggestion that it represented a new personal official vehicle for the head of the Ministry of the Interior and Administration. The ministry and media fact-checkers swiftly rejected that claim. The episode drew attention both to the car's unusual path into police service and to the political use of the story on social media.
The Mustang was seized from a drunk driver and subsequently transferred to the Masovian police fleet, according to reporting by Radio Zet, Super Express, and Wprost. The vehicle is intended for operational police service, not as a ministerial car. The Masovian Voivodeship police confirmed the car had begun its service in the region. The confiscation of vehicles from offenders and their reassignment to law enforcement is a legal mechanism available to Polish authorities. The Mustang, described in reports as a luxury sports car, stood out among standard police vehicles, which likely contributed to the social media attention it received.
Polish law allows courts to order the forfeiture of vehicles used in certain offences, including drunk driving. Confiscated assets can be transferred to state institutions, including law enforcement agencies. The practice of equipping police fleets with seized vehicles has precedents in Poland and other European countries, though high-performance sports cars entering police service remain relatively rare and tend to attract public interest.
Buda's post prompted a sharp response from the ministry and from the fact-checking outlet Konkret24, which labeled the claim a lie. Gazeta.pl described the post as a "primitive fake." The ministry's rebuttal emphasized that the car was assigned to police patrol duties and had no connection to any ministerial transport arrangement. Konkret24 characterized the misleading framing as "a lie, typical of Buda." The dispute illustrated how a straightforward law enforcement story can be reframed on social media for political purposes. No confirmed information is available on whether Buda responded to the corrections after they were published.
false: The claim that the Ford Mustang was a new official car for the head of the Ministry of the Interior and Administration is false. The vehicle was confiscated from a drunk driver and assigned to the Masovian police fleet for operational service, not ministerial use. (MSWiA, Konkret24, Gazeta.pl)