Minister of Interior and Administration: Brutal crime is being imported. Gangs are trying to enter Poland

Foreign gangs are trying to enter Poland, control various types of crime and use brutal methods to do so, said Tomasz Siemoniak, Minister of Internal Affairs and Administration and coordinator of special services, on Tuesday.

When asked on Polish Radio’s First Programme whether the increased information about the threat from foreigners was in line with the election campaign, Siemoniak emphasised that it had nothing to do with it, as the police had been talking about it since last year and these issues had been analysed at subsequent briefings.

"There is imported brutal crime, in fact not a week goes by without information about brutal fights, brutal actions most often between members of these gangs, so we have to react to this," said the head of the Ministry of Interior and Administration.

"We are talking about hard crime here, which we have to deal with, and the police data is clear. Foreign gangs are trying to enter Poland, to control various types of crime - drug trafficking, arms trafficking, extortion - and they are using brutal methods to do so," Siemoniak said.

"It has nothing to do with the election campaign. Since the election campaign is ongoing, people will probably have different opinions on it - candidates and politicians, but the police have been talking about it since last year. We analyze these issues with the commanders at subsequent briefings, so from my point of view it has nothing to do with the election campaign," he assessed.

The Minister of Interior and Administration added that many people were expelled from Poland. "The expulsion of 8 thousand people last year is a lot, it is not a marginal number, plus the number of people in detention - these are hundreds," he said.

The Minister reminded that the statistics take into account all violations of regulations and traffic offences and these numbers are decreasing, but it concerns criminal groups.

"I am talking about what is related to hard crime, gangs and their activities and this requires our decisive response," Siemoniak emphasized.

"You only need to ask the police for details or just look around - a few days ago the police acted quickly and efficiently - we had a knife fight in the centre of Warsaw between citizens of another country with a fatal victim and those arrested," the minister pointed out.

"Maybe statistically it is just one incident, but it is incredibly serious and that is how the police and the Ministry of Interior and Administration approach it," he added.

On Friday night, a fight broke out at the Constitution Square in Warsaw, in which three Georgian citizens were injured – one of them, a 31-year-old, was taken to hospital with a chest wound, where he died. Three Georgians who took part in the fight were arrested for two months. (PAP)

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