Police officers accused of complicity in kidnap and theft

A number of police officers from Gdansk and Gdynia stand accused by the prosecutor's office of being members of an organized crime ring charged with kidnapping children for ransom, robbing warehouses and stealing trucks. Three of the officers work for the regional division of the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBS) while the remaining six are officers of regular police units. The whole issue of police involvement in crime came to light during an investigation into the kidnapping of a girl for ransom in 2002. "However, the whole affair concerns dozens of other crimes, some involving the use of guns," said Gdansk police spokesman Konrad Kornatowski. The prosecutor does not have any proof that the suspects were directly involved in investigations into crimes they had committed themselves. (Rzeczpospolita, pp. A1, A7) M.M.