Police pounce on ultra-nationalist criminal gang
PR dla Zagranicy
Nick Hodge
21.10.2014 11:25
Eleven members of an alleged organised crime group of ultra-nationalists have been arrested in the city of Bialystok, north eastern Poland.
Photo: podlaska.policja.gov.pl/
The suspects stand accused of various crimes, including drug-dealing, propagating fascism, armed robbery, and coercing women into prostitution.
160 officers, led by members of the Central Police Investigation Bureau (CBSP) in cooperation with local police, took part in the raids at over a dozen properties across Bialystok.
The action follows the arrests of 18 other suspects this summer.
The north eastern city is considered a hotbed of ultra-nationalism and racially motivated crimes.
In May 2013, the then Interior Minister Bartlomiej Sienkiewicz announced that Bialystok would be treated as a training ground for anti-racist programmes, following a rash of hate crimes.
“In my opinion the situation has got so bad there that we have to treat it as a training ground,” he told the Krytyka Polityczna web site.
“As far as skinhead circles are concerned – we're coming after you,” he stated, a pledge that appears to have born fruit in the light of the recent arrests. (nh)
Photo: PAP/podlaska.policja.gov.pl/