BELARUS NEWS AND ANALYSIS

DATE:

27/11/2006

Prosecutor says arrested Belarusian spy targeted Polish intelligence

The Associated Press

VILNIUS, Lithuania: A Polish prosecutor on Monday said a Belarusian man arrested on allegations of espionage worked for his country's secret service and was trying to glean information about Polish intelligence agents.

Polish national prosecutor Janusz Kaczmarek said Poland and Lithuania had kept the alleged spy under surveillance for a long time before Lithuanian authorities arrested him Saturday in Vilnius.

"The Belarusian has been in contact with several Polish citizens for two years, offering money for classified information, including names of intelligence officials," Kaczmarek said at news conference in Vilnius.

"He is very well trained," Kaczmarek said. "We believe the man is an agent of the (Belarusian) secret service. We launched this investigation when his actions started to pose a threat to Polish national security."

He did not say whether other arrests were expected in the case.

Kaczmarek and Lithuania's State Security Department chief Arvydas Pocius said Warsaw would ask for the man to be extradited to Poland. He is currently being held in Vilnius on a one-month detention order.

Investigators said the man had traveled to Lithuania several times on a tourist visa, meeting his Polish informers at different restaurants. He had arrived in Vilnius on Friday and was arrested a day later, officials said.

"He is very well known to us," Pocius said, but did not give any details about the man.

Both Poland and Lithuania, who have long pushed for democratic change in neighboring Belarus, have tense relations with Minsk.

Source:

http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2006/11/27/europe/EU_GEN_Lithuania_Belarus_Spy_Arrested.php

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