World News | Suspected Bugging Equipment in Room for Polish Cabinet Meeting Said to Be Part of Old Sound System

Warsaw, May 7 (AP) A Polish official said bugging devices were found in a room where the Polish Cabinet was scheduled to meet Tuesday, but another official later said the equipment was part of an old sound system in the building.

Some government opponents and analysts criticized the Polish secret services for apparently failing to properly identify the equipment or releasing information before they were sure. But the incident underlines anxieties in Poland, a NATO country that borders Ukraine, with a war nearby and warnings that Russia is increasing its activities against the West.

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Those anxieties grew on Monday, when a Polish judge who had access to sensitive information fled to Belarus and publicly criticized Poland's government while praising Russia and Belarus. He is now suspected of spying and is under investigation.

The members of Prime Minister Donald Tusk's Cabinet met Tuesday in Katowice, a southwestern Polish city in the region of Silesia where Tusk was attending an economic conference.

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Jacek Dobrzynski, the spokesperson for the head of Poland's secret services, said early Tuesday that a routine security check uncovered equipment that could be used for recording or eavesdropping.

But later the spokesperson for the surrounding Silesian region, Alicja Waliszewska, said the equipment was probably part of an old sound system, the state news agency PAP reported.

“The services responded correctly to this situation and dismantled an old element of the system probably used for internal communication,” Waliszewska said.

Dobrzynski could not be immediately reached for comment on the discrepancy.

The Cabinet traditionally holds weekly sessions in Warsaw but moved this week to Katowice because of a meeting of the European Economic Congress, at which European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen delivered a speech. (AP)

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)