The man, identified only as Azamat B., has been expelled at the request of the head of Poland’s Internal Security Agency (ABW), said the spokesman for Poland’s Special Services Coordinator in a statement.
The spokesman elaborated that the decision “was made on the basis of the Agency’s own intelligence as well as … data provided to Poland by partner special services and international entities.”
The statement said that Azamat B. came to Poland in 2006 and was “granted consent for tolerated stay and then subsidiary protection.”
In 2009, Azamat B. left Poland for Belgium, “where he repeatedly applied for refugee status,” according to the statement.
In 2010, he was transferred back to Poland under the so-called Dublin II Regulation, the spokesman said.
He added that, according to available information, the man later travelled many times to Belgium, where his second wife and children lived.
“The Belgian authorities expelled him in March 2017. Azamat B. had left Belgium in 2014 and came to the Middle East to join the Islamic State ... Following his return to Belgium, he had kept in touch with Islamic extremists as well as individuals dealing with trafficking in arms.”
According to information provided by “partner special services, the German agencies considered Azamat B. to be a member of terrorist organisations and a person involved in human smuggling and money laundering,” the spokesman said in his statement, adding that in 2017 the man’s name appeared on the European Police Office’s list of people supporting terrorist organisations.
"Europol also qualified Azamat B. as a jihadist,” the spokesman added.
The statement went on that in March 2017, Azamat B., who at that time resided in Belgium, was detained by the country’s security services and expelled “on account of having links with terrorist organisations.”
In addition, a 10-year ban on entry into Belgium was issued against him, the spokesman said.
He added: “As Azamat B. had been granted subsidiary protection by Polish authorities, Belgium expelled him to Poland. Given the resulting situation, the authorities of the Republic of Poland had no other choice than to oblige Azamat B. to leave the country’s territory.”
According to intelligence gathered by Polish security services, Azamat B. left for Russia in 2009 and then returned to Belgium, the spokesman also said.
“Belgian immigration authorities learned the details of that trip during an investigation. Azamat B. informed them that in 2009, he had come to Chechnya, then had moved to Ingushetia and eventually had taken his wife and two children back to Belgium (in September 2009). While staying in Russia, overtly, he was not subjected to any kind of repressions. This very fact was taken into account by Polish authorities while moving for the expulsion of Azamat B. from Poland.”
The decision to expel Azamat B. from Poland was eventually made by the interior and administration minister at the request of the head of the Internal Security Agency, the spokesman said.
After Azamat B. was expelled from Poland a five-year ban on entry into the country and other Schengen Area countries was issued against him, according to the statement.
The spokesman concluded that “Poland does not consider the engagement in the war for the independence of Chechnya to be a reason for expelling from our territory the Chechens who stay here on a legal basis.”
However, he said, “Poland cannot and shall not tolerate illegal activities or condone any threats arising from the radicalisation of foreigners who stay within the territory of our country.”
(gs/pk)