Polish officers face disciplinary action after former minister commits suicide during search

Six police officers face disciplinary action after a former government minister committed suicide in her bathroom as the officers searched her home in a corruption investigation, Poland's minister for secret services said Friday.

Former Construction Minister Barbara Blida shot herself in the chest with a revolver after asking to use the bathroom to brush her teeth Wednesday as officers from Poland's Internal Security Agency staged an early-morning search of her home, officials said.

Officers gave her permission and had a female officer accompany her. The female officer was standing outside the bathroom with the door open when Blida shot herself.

"The officers did not follow the proper procedures" during the search and have been suspended from active duty, said Zbigniew Wassermann, Poland's minister for secret services.

Wassermann said six officers involved in the incident face disciplinary action: the deputy chief of the agency's Katowice branch, the head of the criminal division, the officer in charge of the raid's planning and the three officers who searched Blida's house.

Wassermann said he held "a lot of reservations" about the pre-search planning. He said the agents failed to check gun ownership records beforehand, and also criticized the female agent for leaving Blida alone.

The search of Blida's home was part of a wider investigation into corruption and money laundering, authorities say.

Blida, a lawmaker for the post-communist Democratic Left Alliance from 1989-2005 and construction minister from 1993-1996, was suspected of receiving material gains, officials say.

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Past member of Polish government kills self when police call

A former Polish government minister committed suicide in her bathroom Wednesday morning as police searched her house in connection with corruption allegations, authorities said.

Officers from Poland's Internal Security Agency staged an early morning search of Barbara Blida's home in the southern town of Siemianowice, agency spokesman Magdalena Stanczyk said.

Ms. Blida, a lawmaker for the post-communist Democratic Left Alliance from 1989-2005 and construction minister from 1993-1996, “was suspected of taking and receiving material gains,” Ms. Stanczyk said.

Ms. Blida, 57, asked agents if she could use the toilet while they conducted their search.

The officers agreed, and a female agent accompanied Ms. Blida to the bathroom, the agency said later Wednesday in a statement.

Once in the bathroom, “Blida suddenly and unexpectedly pulled a loaded gun from an unestablished location and shot herself in the chest,” the agency said.

Prime Minister Jaroslaw Kaczynski and his conservative Law and Justice party are making a broad push to root out corruption and shady ties between business and politics that they say thrived under previous governments led by ex-communists.

Wednesday's raid was part of an investigation into corruption allegations against 14 people, including Ms. Blida, said Tomasz Tadla, a spokesman for prosecutors in Katowice.

Mr. Tadla said police had planned to arrest Ms. Blida and 13 others in the region early Wednesday and press charges including corruption, money-laundering and possession of false documents.

Prosecutors were on the scene to determine whether Internal Security Agency officers followed the proper procedures.

Mr. Kaczynski called for an investigation.

“Why she couldn't be stopped before this tragic, desperate action still needs to be clarified,” he said.

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MEPs denounce Polish 'witch hunt'

Members of the European Parliament have denounced as "a scandal" a threat by the Polish government to strip a leading Polish MEP of his mandate.
Bronislaw Geremek, a former dissident, is refusing to submit a declaration that he did not co-operate with the communist-era secret police.

He is required to do so by a Polish law which entered into force on 15 March.

One MEP said Poland's behaviour was an "absolute scandal". Another described it as "Stalinist".

The president of the parliament, German MEP Hans-Gert Poettering, said he would examine all legal possibilities that would allow Mr Geremek to continue his work in the parliament.

Polish election officials have already written to Mr Geremek warning that his mandate will be revoked, if he does not comply with the law.

'Secret web'

The measure is part of a push by President Lech Kaczynski and his twin brother, Prime Minister Jaroslaw Kaczynski, to screen professors, journalists and politicians for past collaboration.

Mr Geremek, 75, a former foreign minister and member of the parliament's Liberal group, says he has already made a declaration that he did not work as an informant when he ran for election to the European Parliament three years ago.

He said the new law threatened freedom of speech and created "a kind of ministry of truth".

The leader of the Liberal group, Graham Watson, said Mr Geremek "rightly objects to the witch-hunt his government seeks".

Green leader Daniel Cohn-Bendit said: "If the [Polish] government uses Stalinist or fascist methods, we must defend our colleagues against all loonies."

The Kaczynskis say Poland is infiltrated by a "web" of ex-communists and secret police who went into business and other areas of public life in the years after 1989, when the country's first post-communist government was formed.

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Anwar's Ally Now Battling For Survival After Pay Scandal

While Former Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim is battling it out to win some votes for Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR) in Saturday's Ijok by-election, his longtime ally Paul Wolfowitz is battling for survival as World Bank President.

There have been mounting calls for Wolfowitz's resignation after it was discovered that he had approved a promotion and hefty pay rise for his girlfriend, Shaha Riza, an employee at the World Bank, before she was assigned to work at the U.S. State Department.

Yesterday, the European Parliament asked Wolfowitz, a former Deputy Secretary of Defence in the Bush administration and one of the architects of the US invasion of Iraq in 2003, to go after having voted 333-251 with 31 abstentions.

Viewed against the backdrop of nepotism and hypocrisy, the vote also carried a paragraph stating that Wolfowitz's withdrawal from his post at the World Bank would be a welcome step towards preventing the bank's anti-corruption policy from being undermined.

Wolfowitz's anti-corruption campaign rang hollow recently after he was found to have acted in the decision to raise Shaha Riza's annual pay package from US$133,000 to US$193,590, said to be even US$7,000 higher than the salary of US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice.

European countries, including Germany, Britain, the Netherlands, Norway and France have said that Wolfowitz is dragging the World Bank into disrepute and further undermining the credibility of its anti-corruption policy.

There have been suggestions by European parliamentarians that if Wolfowitz "won't jump himself, he must be pushed."

The latest call by the EU assembly comes as a special World Bank committee is examining whether Wolfowitz had abused his position or committed ethical lapses.

Wolfowitz, the son of Polish immigrants to New York, has apologised for his handling of Shaha Riza's promotion and pledged to make changes to his management.

When it was announced in March 2005 that Wolfowitz would become World Bank chief, some 92 per cent of 1,300 of the bank's employees who responded to a quick survey viewed the appointment negatively.

But the White House has reiterated its support for the former Yale lecturer despite the intensifying calls for his resignation.

Not too long ago when Anwar was released from jail, he flew to Germany for medical treatment. And Wolfowitz took time off to meet him.

In April 2005, the John Hopkins University's School for Advanced International Studies (SAIS) hired Anwar as a visiting scholar. Wolfowitz had been a Dean of SAIS before he became Deputy Secretary of Defence.

In 2005, Anwar had praised Wolfowitz's impending appointment to head the World Bank, saying that the latter "passionately believes in freedom, and understands the issues of poverty, environment degradation, living conditions and health issues which are a very much a World Bank agenda."

But many will not forget that Wolfowitz, described as having an excessively blunt managerial style, is one of the chief architects of the massive US bombardment of Iraq, a move which has still not brought peace to that war-torn country.

And his reputation may be further tarnished if he is eventually shown the door at the World Bank.

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Stolen car turns up in Poland

A Shropshire man’s stolen 4×4 car was traced more than 1,000 miles to Poland thanks to an electronic tracking device less than 30 hours after he was duped by a European conman.

Paul Freeman, 28, of Muxton, Telford, has now collected his BMW X5 after police followed its trail through France, Belgium and Germany to a side street in the Polish capital of Warsaw after ’selling’ the vehicle.

Police say it was an excellent example of collaboration across the continent to foil professional car theft gangs.

They were able to follow the stolen car’s route because it was fitted with a device enabling Tracker, a stolen vehicle system operator, to pinpoint its exact location with GPS technology.

Mr Freeman had advertised his BMW, which he had owned from new, through Auto Trader magazine.

He said: “An average looking man, who had a Swedish passport and driving licence, gave me a £28,000 banker’s draft and I kept his driving licence for security.”

Mr Freeman handed over the keys and the man drove off with his car to Dover, where he passed the vehicle to a Lithuanian man who caught the ferry to France.

But the banker’s draft and driving licence turned out to be fakes. Mr Freeman alerted police and Uxbridge-based Tracker.

Within 30 hours, police in Telford and Kent, assisted by Tracker, had traced the BMW and the thief was arrested after Polish police set up a road block.

Mr Freeman said: “I was set to lose everything, had it not been for Tracker. The thief created a scenario which reassured me he was genuine. We were in regular contact prior to the ’sell’ and he even had the audacity to persuade me to take £1,000 off my original asking price.”

Detective Constable Mark Weale, of Telford’s Malinsgate police station, said that it was remarkable the car was traced so quickly.

Parita Patel, Tracker marketing manager, said: “Thanks to the co-operation of the police and our counterparts on the continent, we were able to swiftly trace the car to a side street in Warsaw, 1,144 miles away from where it was taken.”

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Stolen car turns up in Poland

A Shropshire man’s stolen 4×4 car was traced more than 1,000 miles to Poland thanks to an electronic tracking device less than 30 hours after he was duped by a European conman.

Paul Freeman, 28, of Muxton, Telford, has now collected his BMW X5 after police followed its trail through France, Belgium and Germany to a side street in the Polish capital of Warsaw after ’selling’ the vehicle.

Police say it was an excellent example of collaboration across the continent to foil professional car theft gangs.

They were able to follow the stolen car’s route because it was fitted with a device enabling Tracker, a stolen vehicle system operator, to pinpoint its exact location with GPS technology.

Mr Freeman had advertised his BMW, which he had owned from new, through Auto Trader magazine.

He said: “An average looking man, who had a Swedish passport and driving licence, gave me a £28,000 banker’s draft and I kept his driving licence for security.”

Mr Freeman handed over the keys and the man drove off with his car to Dover, where he passed the vehicle to a Lithuanian man who caught the ferry to France.

But the banker’s draft and driving licence turned out to be fakes. Mr Freeman alerted police and Uxbridge-based Tracker.

Within 30 hours, police in Telford and Kent, assisted by Tracker, had traced the BMW and the thief was arrested after Polish police set up a road block.

Mr Freeman said: “I was set to lose everything, had it not been for Tracker. The thief created a scenario which reassured me he was genuine. We were in regular contact prior to the ’sell’ and he even had the audacity to persuade me to take £1,000 off my original asking price.”

Detective Constable Mark Weale, of Telford’s Malinsgate police station, said that it was remarkable the car was traced so quickly.

Parita Patel, Tracker marketing manager, said: “Thanks to the co-operation of the police and our counterparts on the continent, we were able to swiftly trace the car to a side street in Warsaw, 1,144 miles away from where it was taken.”

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Discussion of mandate of Polish MEP Bronisław Geremek

Before the voting session, Parliament discussed the situation of MEP Bronisław Geremek, who is facing a legal challenge to his mandate in Poland. Vice-President Pierre Moscovici (PES, FR), who was chairing the plenary at the time, told the session that Parliament had so far received no official communication on the issue from the Polish authorities.


The debate began when the leader of the ALDE group, Graham WATSON (ALDE, UK) made a point of order: "I rise because a member of my group, Mr Geremek, is to have his mandate as a Member of the European Parliament revoked by his own government with effect from 19 April. The powers under which the Polish Government is revoking Mr Geremek’s mandate are a ‘lustration’ or monitoring law adopted just a couple of months ago and currently under legal challenge in Poland’s constitutional court. This law requires all journalists, academics and elected MPs to sign a declaration stating that they have never collaborated with the Communist-era security services. Mr Geremek has signed such declarations in the past. His refusal to sign in this case is on moral rather than political grounds. He rightly objects to the witch-hunt which his government seeks."

After prolonged applause, Mr Watson continued, "I would ask three things, Mr President. I would ask first of all whether Mr Kaczyński, who met Mr Pöttering last week, raised this issue with him; secondly, whether it is right and indeed possible for a Member of this House to be stripped of their democratically-elected mandate in this way; and thirdly, whether you would give the House the assurance that this House will act to protect Mr Geremek’s right to exercise his democratically-elected mandate with all possible haste."

Other group leaders gave their views. For the Socialists, Martin SCHULZ (PES, DE) said: " I'd like to say to Mr Geremek we don't share all of your views but on this point you can count on unlimited solidarity from all of our group and I'm sure of Parliament when its a matter of resisting a government in the European Union prosecuting people who have stood up for democratic development and the freedom of Poland in their own country. It is a scandal that such a great country and the government of Poland is acting in this way.

I expect President of Parliament to tell the Kaczyński government tomorrow that we expect the Polish government to protect the Member of the European Parliament Mr Geremek and we shall measure everything Poland does in future by the way it deals with this colleague. I suggest Mr Pöttering say this tomorrow in these terms."

Co-President of the Greens/EFA group, Daniel COHN-BENDIT (Greens/EFA, DE) said: "Not only do we agree with Mr Geremek, over the years, we fought Stalinism with Mr Geremek. This Parliament has only one position to take: If a government uses Stalinist of fascist methods, we have a duty to protect our colleague without hesitation. We stand in solidarity. "

Francis WURTZ (GUE/NGL, FR) said: "It happens and it will still happen in the future that I disagree politically with Mr Geremek. Nevertheless, I want to express my deep respect for the political courage that he has shown, and I want to express in the name of my group, my total solidarity. "

Leader of the EPP-ED group Joseph DAUL (FR) said: "All of us here enjoy political immunity. This is a Parliament with rules by which we stand. To date there has been no application for waiver, we all, including the EPP, support Mr Geremek, we stand by the legal procedures for all members including Mr Geremek."

The Chairman of the Legal Affairs Committee, Giuseppe GARGANI (EPP-ED, IT) said: "I would like to assure colleagues that when this matter comes before the committee, we will show great sensitivity as regards the independence of Parliament and we shall examine the correspondence and documents very carefully and we shall be able to stand up for the independence of Parliament and the possibility for members to be defended in their independence and freedom."

Vice-President Pierre MOSCOVICI (PES, FR), in the chair for the voting session, said "We have not been notified of any Polish government decision which is indeed very questionable. The role of this Parliament is to protect the mandate of all its members. I imagine that the legal affairs committee will be looking at the matter and will do what is necessary to guarantee the independence of Parliament."

With many more Members seeking the floor, Mr Moscovici called on the two political group leaders who had not yet spoken, Brian Crowley of the UEN group and Bruno Gollnisch of the ITS group.

Brian CROWLEY (UEN, IE) said: "It was unfair of you not to call on my vice-President Mr Kaminski who indicated he wished to speak on the issue. Whether you agree or disagree with the point he would have made is irrelevant - others were given the right to speak and he should have had that right too. Some people in this house have a different interpretation to that by previous speakers. We should have been given an opportunity to have that point heard when the others were heard too."

For Bruno GOLLNISCH (ITS, FR) "The heart of the matter is to find out to what extent, possibly, Mr Geremek, was an accomplice to Stalinist activities in this abominable totalitarianism. I note that in the defence of Members of parliament, which is of no less importance to us than to you - your point of view is often based on variable geometry," referring to cases where he and other members of his group had faced legal action and " you referred to national sovereignty".

Pierre MOSCOVICI (PES, FR) concluded the discussion by saying: "The Conference of Presidents will discuss this matter tomorrow. I am sure there will be a broad majority in the European Parliament in support of Mr Geremek and I intend to express my own solidarity with him now."

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Two Polish clubs demoted in corruption investigation

Two Polish first division clubs have been relegated to lower leagues as part of an investigation into allegations of bribery and match-fixing, the Polish Football Association (PZPN) said on Thursday.
Arka Gdynia will start next season in the second division and must pay a 200,000 zlotys ($70,200) fine, while Gornik Leczna have been demoted to the third division and fined 270,000 zlotys, PZPN said in a statement.
"It's an unprecedented penalty in the history of Polish football," Michal Tomczak, head of the PZPN disciplinary department, told Reuters.
"Considering the scale of the problem it sends a signal that match-fixing will not be tolerated."
In January, Polish sports minister Tomasz Lipiec suspended the PZPN's board of administration amid a corruption scandal in which more than 70 officials were implicated.
But he reinstated the board in March after world soccer's governing body FIFA threatened to ban the national team and Polish clubs from international competition.
The decision to relegate the two clubs comes less than a week before UEFA, European soccer's governing body, picks the host of the 2012 European football championship, where Poland and Ukraine's joint bid is among the final three.

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Poland: Media watchdog warns of new law

A new law requiring journalists to undergo vetting for possible communist-era collaboration with the secret police could have "severe implications" for media independence, an international media watchdog said Thursday.

The new screening law, which entered force March 15, requires up to 700,000 people in public positions in the country of 38 million -- including university professors, teachers and journalists -- to be screened for past collaboration with the secret services.

The International Press Institute warned in a statement that the law "may have severe implications for the Polish media," and urged the government to reconsider the legislation, which "appears imprecise and unclear."

"The new law is extremely divisive and risks opening up fresh divisions within Polish society," said Johann P. Fritz, director of the Vienna, Austria-based organization based.

The law is part of a push by Poland's president and prime minister, identical twins and former Solidarity activists Lech and Jaroslaw Kaczynski, to purge from public life those who collaborated with the communist-era intelligence agencies.

That reckoning was largely avoided in the bloodless transition to democracy that began with communism's collapse in 1989.

"By including journalists in this process, the government has created a powerful tool that allows it to determine who may practice as a journalist," Fritz said.

He added that the law "usurps" the right of publishers and broadcasters to make independent employment decisions, "making the government a de facto employer whose decisions may impact upon content, because the exclusion of journalists will deny the public access to certain views and opinions."

The new law replaces a limited 1997 law that required screening for elected politicians and officials such as judges, a group numbering about 28,000.

Under the new law, public-sector workers caught lying would be banned from office for 10 years, while in the private sector, employers would decide.

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Poland: Media watchdog warns of new law

A new law requiring journalists to undergo vetting for possible communist-era collaboration with the secret police could have "severe implications" for media independence, an international media watchdog said Thursday.

The new screening law, which entered force March 15, requires up to 700,000 people in public positions in the country of 38 million -- including university professors, teachers and journalists -- to be screened for past collaboration with the secret services.

The International Press Institute warned in a statement that the law "may have severe implications for the Polish media," and urged the government to reconsider the legislation, which "appears imprecise and unclear."

"The new law is extremely divisive and risks opening up fresh divisions within Polish society," said Johann P. Fritz, director of the Vienna, Austria-based organization based.

The law is part of a push by Poland's president and prime minister, identical twins and former Solidarity activists Lech and Jaroslaw Kaczynski, to purge from public life those who collaborated with the communist-era intelligence agencies.

That reckoning was largely avoided in the bloodless transition to democracy that began with communism's collapse in 1989.

"By including journalists in this process, the government has created a powerful tool that allows it to determine who may practice as a journalist," Fritz said.

He added that the law "usurps" the right of publishers and broadcasters to make independent employment decisions, "making the government a de facto employer whose decisions may impact upon content, because the exclusion of journalists will deny the public access to certain views and opinions."

The new law replaces a limited 1997 law that required screening for elected politicians and officials such as judges, a group numbering about 28,000.

Under the new law, public-sector workers caught lying would be banned from office for 10 years, while in the private sector, employers would decide.

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"Measures have been taken"

It has been exactly a year since an underage Polish boy stabbed Joe Van Holsbeeck to death in the Central Station in Brussels for his MP3 player. The murder provoked a wave of outrage throughout the country. Minister for Home Affairs Patrick Dewael (Flemish Liberals Open VLD) says a lot has happened since.


Teen boy murdered for mp3 player at Brussels Central
Police reconstruct Brussels mp3 murder

On 12 April 2006 Joe Van Holsbeeck and his friend were accosted by two other youths in the Central Station. The two had their eye on Joe's MP3 player. The boy refused to hand over the device and was stabbed five times in the chest. He later died in hospital.

Witnesses claimed the perpetrators were of North African descent. The authorities took descriptions from the witnesses but in the end it turned out to have been two Polish boys. The security cameras in the station had footage of the boys.

Joe Van Holsbeeck became the symbol of senseless violence for a whole nation. A few days after the murder some 80,000 people participated in a silent vigil. Joe's father still has a great deal of difficulty dealing with his son's death.

"Sometimes things are going okay and I can put it out of my mind, but whenever it's in the media I'm down in the dumps again."

Van Holsbeeck's father hopes that measures will be introduced to clamp down on violence. "I want politicians and the justice department to tackle the problems. So that at least my son did not die in vain."

Adam G., the boy accused of stabbing Joe, is still in prison awaiting trial. His friend Mariusz O. is in a juvenile facility in Wallonia. He may be tried in juvenile court for his part in the crime.

A number of measures have been taken to increase safety since the death of Joe, says Home Affairs Minister Patrick Dewael (Flemish Liberals Open VLD).

"There are more police on the streets now, thought that is not directly related to Joe's murder. That had been already agreed in the coalition agreement," Dewael says. "We had promised 2,500 additional officers and there are now 3,000."

"These additional officers are deployed to police the community. They work on the streets, in amongst the people."

"More funds were made available after Joe's death. The railway police now have an additional 35 people and there are 250 cameras in the Brussels train stations. In just one year's time 750 cameras have been installed in the 78 metro stations."

Dewael says that a lot has changed at the justice department as well. "There are more magistrates and criminologists and a new juvenile facility has been added."

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BROTHERS MAY FACE TRIAL OVER POLISH CON

CHANCERS preying on big-hearted Scots could face a fraud trial.

Charity regulators have sent a report on Scottish Help For The World to the Crown Office.

It follows a Sunday Mail investigation which revealed that items collected in Scotland were being sold for as much as £50,000 a week in Poland.

The £2.5million-a-year operation is fronted by the wealthy Sramke brothers, Mateus, 19, and Jaeck, 17, who live outside Gdansk and could now be the subject of arrest warrants.

Our probe revealed leaflets featuring the Sramkes' claim that they are helping a Polishbased charity contained fake charity numbers.

Dozens of Eastern European workers have been collecting goods for the Dewajtis organisation from homes across Scotland, operating from a base in Glasgow. But instead of giving the goods they collect to desperate families, at least two container loads are being shipped out every week and sold through the Sramkes' second-hand clothing business.


Ayrshire MP Brian Donohoe said: "I'm incandescent with rage that this gang have been allowed to operate in Scotland for almost a year with virtually no action from the authorities.


"Scotland has been a magnet for far too long for charity scams and the authorities must do everything in their power to ensure that does not continue."


A letter to Donohoe from Thomas Thornburn, the senior investigations officer at the Office of the Scottish Charity Regulator, said: "The use of a fictitious reference number may be fraud." The Sramke family, who refuse to speak to the Mail, have been ordered by the OSCR to stop posing as a charity.


A spokesman for the Catholic Church said: "This is a despicable scam, which takes advantage of people's generosity and damages the name of the Polish people."

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Polish ecologists still under surveillance...

A letter, sent to all Polish police headquarters about an order to investigate and gather information about opponents of building the bypass through Rospuda Valley has already been circulated around the Internet.


Although everybody laughs at the fact that the police are wasting their time keeping ecologists under surveillance the case is quite serious because the purpose of this police action is defined as: “to gather information about possible dangers to public order and illegal sabotage acts from organizations which show their aversion to governmental enterprise”.

For the time being, it is not entirely obvious what they are looking for and how this information is going to be used by them but most probably journalists from www.zieloni.org.pl will also be under police surveillance (although we do not have any sabotage plans, we show our “aversion” to governmental project) that is why we’re going to observe constantly their plans and inform you systematically. Below you can read the letter to the police headquarters.

The same letter was sent to all police headquarters in Poland (a copy of the letter is available from the website http://adamwajrak.blox.pl)

From: The Crime Division of The Police Headquarters in Jelenia Góra
To: The Police Headquarters in Jelenia Góra

TELEGRAM nr MJ-B-5421/38/07

On account of the orders included in document no WK II 146/06 from the Chief of the Police Station, Konrad Kornatowski, dated 19 Feb 2007 about the plans for building the Augusów bypass (Podlaskie province) I would like to ask to order subordinate policemen to direct work of personal sources of information (and to recruit new ones) to gather information about possible dangers to public order and illegal sabotage acts from organizations which show their aversion to governmental enterprise.

All the information should be sent to SMI WWK KWP in Wrocław (with “Rospuda” in the subject of the report) and The Crime Division from The Police Headquarters in Jelenia Góra should be informed at the same time.

One copy was made.

(sent via fax)

Written by JL

VICE GOVERNOR
of the Crime Division
The Police Headquarters in Jelenia Góra

Chief Inspector Artur KRAWCZYK

[a comment by the author of the post] I am not sure what it supposed to be: is it a joke or should I start to panic that we are under surveillance. I wonder what they are going to do with this information and for what and where they are looking... It’s madness! So far I count on free flow of information and that they will restrain themselves when they see that everybody has read these letters.

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Pilferers Pelt Pursuing Polish Police With Sex Toys

A gang of thieves in a white van registered in Poland was able to shake off pursuing police by throwing some of the loot from their latest raid - a sex shop near Krems, Austria - out of the back of the van.

The thieves lobbed a variety of objects including boxes of condoms, vibrators, a vacuum cleaner, and a computer at their pursuers. Police chasers were slowed down by being forced to steer around the objects allowing the criminals to escape.

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Polish Police Given the Power to Strip Anyone

Poland has given its police force the authority to stop any person and make them strip so that they can note any distinguishing features such as tattoos. It is claimed that the new powers will help police track criminals and solve crime.

Some people, however, such as Warsaw resident Andrzej Kuczynski are very uneasy with the idea. "It's ridiculous – am I supposed to undress to show I don't have a tattoo of someone they're looking for?" he said.

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