Reserve officer course trainee detained in Łódź: he is suspected of espionage

On 16 October 2026 the Military Gendarmerie (Żandarmeria Wojskowa) detained a participant in a reserve officer training course on the grounds of the Military Medical Academy (Wojskowa Akademia Medyczna) in Łódź. According to Rzeczpospolita, the operation was carried out on the instructions of the Łódź-Polesie district prosecutor’s office, with the Military Counterintelligence Service (SKW) handling the investigation; several phones, documents, stamps, currency and gold were seized from the detainee. The academy’s spokesman Adam Stępka confirmed the detention.

According to the newspaper, the man holds Polish and Ukrainian citizenship; deputy defence minister Cezary Tomczyk also confirmed this. The deputy minister said the detainee had taken an interest in Polish Armed Forces facilities, that the services had known about the case for several days and had acted as soon as suspicious activity was identified.

Which intelligence service he may have worked for has not been disclosed and no evidence has been made public; guilt cannot be presumed at this stage. Article 130 § 2 of the Criminal Code provides for eight years to life imprisonment for taking part in the activities of a foreign intelligence service.