Poland charges four soldiers and fires general after anti-tank mines end up at IKEA warehouse

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Notes from Poland is run by a small editorial team and is published by an independent, non-profit foundation that is funded through donations from our readers. We cannot do what we do without your support.

Four Polish soldiers could face up to five years in prison after being charged with failing to properly supervise weapons and ammunition, resulting in the temporary disappearance of 240 anti-tank mines that were later found at a warehouse of furniture retailer IKEA.

Meanwhile, the defence ministry announced that Major General Artur Kępczyński had been dismissed as head of the Armed Forces Support Inspectorate due to his failure to properly respond to the incident.

On Thursday, news website Wirtualna Polska reported that, during the unloading of military equipment from a train near the city of Szczecin in northwest Poland last summer, soldiers failed to offload the entire shipment. As a result, the anti-tank mines left on the train “travelled further into Poland.”

According to the Dziennik Gazeta Prawna newspaper, the mines continued to travel around the country unsecured for 10 days. The mines were later discovered at an IKEA warehouse in eastern Poland.

Małgorzata Dobies-Turulska, president of IKEA Industry Poland, confirmed to the Polish Press Agency (PAP) that state rail freight carrier PKP Cargo informed them on 16 July last year “about a military box found in one of the wagons that had arrived at IKEA Industry Orla” in Podlaskie province.

She added that a freight carrier representative opened the wagon and the military police retrieved the box on the same day.

Colonel Bartosz Okoniewski, deputy district prosecutor for military affairs in Poznań, said on Friday that the Szczecin-Niebuszewo District Prosecutor’s Office had been investigating the disappearance of the mines since August.

“Four individuals have been charged in this case – three soldiers from the Mosty material depot in the West Pomeranian province and one from the Hajnówka material depot in the Podlaskie province,” said Okoniewski, quoted by broadcaster Radio Zet.

“The charges pertain to a failure to properly supervise military property, specifically mines,” he added.

Two of the suspects are officers, while the other two are non-commissioned officers. All are still serving in the military. Some have admitted to the charges, while others deny the allegations.

Under Poland’s penal code, a soldier who causes the loss of weapons or ammunition through negligence or exceeding their authority can face imprisonment of up to five years.

All of the 240 mines, which were stored in several crates, have since been recovered. “By the time the mines were officially reported missing, their location had already been established,” Okoniewski said.

According to Wirtualna Polska, Kępczyński knew about the lost transport and yet did not report the incident. Those in charge of the equipment reportedly gave false information about its whereabouts in the relevant documents.

Defence minister Władyslaw Kosiniak-Kamysz told the RMF FM broadcaster that, after the case first emerged last year, action was initially taken against the lower-ranked officers directly responsible.

However, he said that the general was eventually dismissed for failing “to draw consequences” from the incident. The minister added that “corrective actions related to preparation, training, sending appropriate inspections” had also now been implemented.

Notes from Poland is run by a small editorial team and published by an independent, non-profit foundation that is funded through donations from our readers. We cannot do what we do without your support.