Hundreds of top secret documents found hidden in ex spy’s home
Over 100 top secret documents have been found in the home of a former spy.
Investigators from the Institute of National Remembrance (IPN) and the Internal Security Agency (ABW) raided the property of a former high ranking officer in Poland’s communist-era security service as well as the apartments of his relatives in Katowice where they found files from 1970-1990 detailing the activities of communist-era agents operating overseas.
Investigators also found documents about the activities of the Security Services during Marital Law in the 80s (illustration picture).
They also found documents about the activities of the Security Services during Marital Law in the 80s.
Deputy prosecutor general Andrzej Pozorski told PAP: “It was a large-scale operation, not in one, but in several places where we recovered Security Service documents with classified information.
Deputy prosecutor general Andrzej Pozorski told PAP: “This case confirms that at the turn of the 80s and 90s, when the communist system in Poland was collapsing, Security Service officers took documents from the former structures of the Ministry of Internal Affairs and still hold them illegally.”
“Judging just by the security clearance, which, after all, were assigned by the PRL security service, we can say that the documents aren’t only important for the IPN investigations, but are also valuable for historians.”
The documents which are classified as ‘Secret’, ‘Top Secret" and ‘Secret of Special Importance" were found at the home of a former officer of the communist’s dreaded state security service the Służba Bezpieczeństwa, known simply as SB.
The man later went on to hold a senior position in Poland’s post-communist intelligence service UOP (Urząd Ochrony Państwa), which was responsible for both foreign intelligence and domestic counter intelligence.
At the turn of the 1980s and 1990s, Security Service officers frequently destroyed documents, including those that could be evidence of crimes committed by the security bodies of the communist state.
In turn, materials that could have burdened the opposition were "privatized" so that they could be used for blackmail in the future.
The man, who hasn’t been named, later went on to hold a senior position in Poland’s post-communist intelligence service UOP (Urząd Ochrony Państwa), which was responsible for both foreign intelligence and domestic counter intelligence.
Some of the documents relate to the activities of the security services during Martial Law.
In 2002 UOP was split into two separate entities, the internal security service ABW (Agencja Bezpieczeństwa Wewnętrznego) and the foreign intelligence service AW (Agencja Wywiadu).
In addition to seizing the illegally-held documents, IPN and ABW investigators also seized the man’s computers, drives and electronic devices.
Prosecutor Pozorski said: “This case confirms that at the turn of the 80s and 90s, when the communist system in Poland was collapsing, Security Service officers took documents from the former structures of the Ministry of Internal Affairs and still hold them illegally.
The documents are classified as ‘Secret’, ‘Top Secret" and ‘Secret of Special Importance" (illustrative photo).
“We can guess that the Security Service officers took away documents concerning mainly those people who they thought would make a career in the future, in free Poland.
“Although today these documents appear in our records as ‘missing’, they are actually in private hands.”
The former officer is now facing eight years in jail.
