Polish police check 10,000 schools after knife attacks, detain 10 people

Polish police say they have checked 10,000 educational facilities and detained 10 people in connection with suspected criminal offences, most involving criminal threats, following recent knife attacks and threats targeting schools.

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Police said 13 incidents had raised suspicions of criminal offences and 10 people had been detained. Most are suspected of making criminal threats. 

Officers from the Central Bureau for Combating Cybercrime (CBZC) were monitoring the internet around the clock, reporters were told.

Police said they were verifying reports of threats, announced violence and other incidents that could endanger pupils and school staff. 

Police patrols around schools were being increased. Officers were also planning to meet students to discuss how to behave in dangerous situations. 

Warsaw police said a 16-year-old student had been detained after bringing a balisong, or butterfly knife, to a school complex in the city’s Śródmieście district.

A school employee alerted a police patrol to a possible threat to safety, and officers found the knife in the student’s backpack. 

On Friday, police detained two 15-year-olds from the Warsaw suburb of Pruszków and a 13-year-old from the capital’s Bemowo district after they posted social media videos containing threats to kill others. 

A 14-year-old in Józefów near Warsaw was detained over plans to bring a knife to school. 

In the northeastern town of Szczytno, police detained a 16-year-old over videos allegedly threatening pupils and teachers at a local school.

On Thursday, a 15-year-old former student attacked three people with a knife at a school in the village of Leszczydół-Nowiny, near the town of Wyszków, some 50 km northeast of Warsaw, killing a 37-year-old school employee and injuring two others.

A day earlier, a 19-year-old attacked schoolmates and teachers with a knife at a vocational school in Ostrołęka, 120 km northeast of the capital, injuring five students, two teachers and two bystanders.

Prosecutors said the suspect also attempted to detonate a homemade explosive device at the school.

On Wednesday, police in the town of Sierpc, 125 km northwest of Warsaw, foiled a planned school attack and detained a 17-year-old who had told classmates he planned to „do something bad at school,” according to authorities.

Police urged people not to spread unverified information and reminded the public that threats to trigger an alarm or commit a crime can have serious legal consequences. 

(sp/gs) 

Source: PAP

Radio Poland