Russian man charged with spying after photographing Polish rail infrastructure
Polish authorities have arrested and charged a 55-year-old Russian national with allegedly gathering information for a foreign intelligence service after police caught him photographing trains and railway infrastructure in the southwestern city of Świdnica, RMF24 reported on October 30.
Police first noticed the man sitting in a Volkswagen parked near an unguarded railway crossing. He drove away when he saw officers, who later spotted the vehicle again near a railway overpass.
During the encounter, officers found professional photographic equipment. A subsequent examination of his electronic devices uncovered hundreds of thousands of files documenting railway lines, transport infrastructure and industrial facilities, including locations outside Poland.
Prosecutors accuse him of photographing infrastructure with the intention of passing the images to a foreign intelligence service.
Police seized cameras, phones, laptops, high-capacity storage drives and several identity documents.
A court ordered the suspect held in pretrial detention for three months.
Polish intelligence services coordinator Tomasz Siemoniak described the arrest of a Russian national as relatively unusual, noting that suspicious photography of infrastructure has accompanied hostile intelligence activities.
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