General deposed Polish anti-tank mines mistakenly end up in furniture warehouse

Highly dangerous military goods wandered through Poland by rail for weeks. The soldiers responsible are facing penalties and a general has been dismissed.

DPA

11.01.2025, 16:03

11.01.2025, 16:07

dpa

In the Polish army, 240 anti-tank mines were overlooked and mistakenly ended up in a furniture company's warehouse. Four military personnel responsible for this could face several years in prison, as the PAP news agency reported, citing the responsible public prosecutor's office. A Polish subsidiary of the furniture company confirmed to the agency that employees had discovered a shipment of military goods in July 2024. This was picked up by the military police on the same day.

Although the mistake was made six months ago, the Polish public only found out about it on Thursday through media reports on the news portals "Onet.pl" and "Wirtualna Polska". Defense Minister Wladyslaw Kosiniak-Kamysz then dismissed the head of the army's internal inspectorate on the same day and proposed a successor on Friday. The ministry has not yet given a reason for the change of personnel. According to media reports, the military is said to have tried to cover up the mistake and conceal it from his superiors.

A wrong turn by train through Poland

"Onet.pl" and "Wirtualna Polska" revealed that the anti-tank mines were to be unloaded from a train near Szczecin in the summer of 2024 along with a large quantity of other military equipment. However, the soldiers apparently carelessly left some of the dangerous cargo behind.

The anti-tank mines initially went missing and only turned up weeks later in the furniture company's warehouse after a wrong turn by train through the Polish interior. According to "Onet.pl", they would have been enough to destroy two skyscrapers.