Less than 24 hours after Albania made international news following the arrest of two Russians and a Ukrainian citizen who tried to enter a military plant and attacked guards with nerve-paralysing spray, four Czech citizens have been arrested for filming a former weapons factory in Polican.
According to the Ministry of Defence, the incident took place at around 8:40 on Sunday morning in one of the tunnels of the plant.
“Immediately, the Military Police in cooperation with the State Police, isolated the entrances to the tunnels, which are almost all communicating with each other, and after searches, they arrested two people of Czech nationality. Around 12:30, at a distance of 1.5 km from the tunnels outside the perimeter of the department’s perimeter, two citizens of Czech nationality, cohabitants of the above two citizens, were found and accompanied,” the police explained.
The Ministry added that the security forces are carrying out procedures and verifications in connection with the incident.
According to media reports, the Czech citizens claim they are tourists who got lost.
“We are tourists, we were taking pictures, we lost our way and entered the tunnel. We have no bad intentions.”
The official police report states that two men were found inside the plant while the two women, believed to be cohabitants, were found outside.
The plant in Polican was established in 1962 to produce Kalashnikov weapons, 82mm ammunition, grenades, and anti-personnel mines during the communist era and is currently not active.
A year ago, in October 2021, Polish journalists managed to enter the factory and took pictures from inside the premises.