Mine event in Orla area, Poland on Tue 16th July 2024

Four Polish soldiers face charges of neglect of duty, prosecutors said on Friday, after the army lost track of 240 anti-tank mines in July, which were later found in a train wagon near a warehouse belonging to Swedish furniture retailer IKEA.

“The suspects are four soldiers, the case concerns neglect of duty regarding the unloading of a transport of munitions… (they face) up to 5 years of imprisonment,” spokesman for the District Prosecutor’s Office in Poznan, Lukasz Wawrzyniak, told Reuters.

“None of the suspects have pleaded guilty.”

He said a cargo of mines being transported by rail from Hajnowka on Poland’s eastern border to an ammunition depot in Mosty in the west was not completely offloaded when it arrived at its destination.

The transport took place between July 4 and 7.

As a result, part of the cargo – 240 anti-tank mines – moved on and was only found on July 16 in a rail siding near a furniture store warehouse.

“All the elements were sealed and they were immediately secured by the army,” Wawrzyniak said.

IKEA Industry Poland CEO Malgorzata Dobies-Turulska confirmed that the army had picked up the explosives from one of the wagons that arrived at a warehouse belonging to IKEA Industry Orla.

“The box was collected by the military police on the same day. Cooperation with the military police went very smoothly,” she said.

Poland’s Defence Minister Wladyslaw Kosiniak-Kamysz said all appropriate actions were taken after the incident.

“Civilian supervision played a key role in this matter… First, security procedures, explanatory procedures, corrective actions related to preparation, training, sending appropriate inspections and drawing personnel conclusions,” he told private radio RMF on Friday.

Polish media reported the dismissal of the head of the Armed Forces Support Inspectorate, General Artur Kepczynski, was related to the incident.

The Polish army press office did not immediately reply to an emailed request for comment.