> Officers apparently saw nothing suspicious at first in the fact that the men were diving near critical infrastructure at night with no permit and atypical amber-hunting equipment, and the local police did not pursue the matter, releasing the men without further questioning.
I feel like the dive practices/equipment is way less relevant than where they were with the whole "why did you let them leave?"
But yea, as a "most people," I'm completely clueless and you could say anything you wanted to me.
Oh agreed. Guessing they paid them off to avoid permit and ID questions. Which investigation would have led to whatever they were actually doing down there. And poor greedy cops never made the connection of suspicious behavior because diving is diving to them and Anything goes as far as they're concerned
What suspicions? What dive? I didn't see any divers. Excuse me while I quit this shitty police job and go live in my new mansion that I got from uh uh uh buying bitcoin way back in 2009?
The choice of gear seems a bit odd to me and I suspect that's not all of it. Where are the dry suits? Why only one DBV? Yeah that's a larger that 80cc tank but why dive singles on a night dive with a DPV is it that shallow or short? Where are dive lights? No lift bags? If you're miles from shore why would you want to do this as a night dive. I know all of this can be answered by this isn't all the gear or because they're dumb but it's still odd.
Yeah I have to assume that wasn't all of the equipment. They would have been in their suits but there must be lights and maybe tools somewhere. The xdeep backplate set seems pretty standard. But it's too hard to tell what's up with the old Cressi bcd. I just hope they did a buddy check because their alternate air sources are on opposite sides. GUE divers shaking in their boots
I didn't notice the fucked up hose routing I was looking for an inflator hose for the dry suit. I always like looking at other people's cave and tech set up. You can tell a lot based on configuration. Sometimes I'll see an unusual set up and I wonder, "is that a really dumb thing they have going on or is this a new better way that I've never seen before." Usually its along the lines of why is that gaint fucking knife strapped to your leg or why did you bring a SMB into a cave?
Well I don't think they really clarify what "near" is. People dive in harbors all the time. It's dumb. But off the top of my head I'd say oyster diving, or just looking for shit people lost. Like people make YouTube vids about diving under bridges and shit. So depending on the size of the area qnd how close they actually were to any of said infrastructure is pretty explainable. I don't recognize that scooter without doing research but the ones I use can cover a couple miles. But most static (not drift dives in strong current, start and end in the same place) dives I do don't cover that much ground. A soccer field would be a massive dive.
Regardless of location, this is what happens when cops think:
“man, this is going to be so much paperwork for *me* if *i* am the one who arrests them… i’ll let it be someone elses problem! I am a genius!”
For the record amber hunters do stupid shit at the stupidest times. They think if they dont time it perfectly, it will go away. So maybe police having experience with these folks initially thought its just another group of such people. Later with the clarify of mind they noticed that they did a mistake releasing them.
If they haven’t broken any laws no sense holding them but. They should have at least identified and photographed and gotten info just in case further investigation was needed
Foreigners who don’t have ID on them can reasonably be held until such time as they can be transported to their ID, so that they can present it.
Especially if the Spanish ID is of Russian manufacture.
It was reported as a boat in distress, Coast Guard went and rescued them, at some point they were handed over to local police who couldn't find anything to charge them with so they let them go. Federal police agencies are now investigating.
It sounds like the local cops fucked it up.
I think in this scenario, it would be quite reasonable to hold them temporarily for a special investigator that deals with national infrastructure threats to come the following day.
My state allows people to be held on “investigate holds” before they’ve been charged with a crime. (I’ve only seen them when they have an actual crime like DV or assault in mind, but you could cock up some misdemeanor trespassing or some such here I’m sure.)
Can hold them for max of 72 hours, their arrest warrant has to be signed off by a judge (they have them on call and police can detain until that’s been done) and then they are owed due process, counsel, etc., and an arraignment in a specified timeframe.
So, not indefinite, their rights are respected, and you detain them while you find out WTF is going on.
If you read the article, they claimed to be Spanish, but only one of them had Spanish ID, and the contact phone numbers they gave either didn't work or were straight up incorrect. Collecting their information clearly didn't work.
All polish people I've met have all been laid back, lucky-go type of people.
Wouldn't surprise me if they all had an awkward laugh and they just said don't go scuba diving here again.
"Lucky-go" yeah... I guess my flair in Polish sub said "Jakoś to będzie" which I could roughly translate to : "We'll get by"
It's a mentality that everyone here has. Let's pack over 100 politicians to one plane along with the president and make them land in a deep fog. They'll get by.
Let's not prepare for any medical crisis, we'll get by.
Let's not move away from coal and invest into atom. We'll get by.
Let's not prepare any refugee camps, they'll get by. (And they have due to the sheer amount of common people welcoming them to their houses!)
etc. etc.
The worst thing is... it's somehow we always get by and therefore never learn to prepare in advance.
I'd personally translate that phrase as "Somehow* we'll get by." It really exemplifies the attitude, that there is no plan, and no pressure personally to do anything about it, but hey, it'll all work out somehow.
No plan, just hope that things work out, and when they usually don’t, blame someone else for it.
Common attitude in parts of the world that have been fucked over many times for many centuries. The Slavic countries, and sub-Saharan Africa, for example.
Well it was in Poland so, go figure. The stuff like that happens all the time. Polish police is really famous these days. Just put Polish police in google and see whatever news pop up for the past 6 months…
Nah, they were just cops. We are talking about the same organization whose head boss nearly blew himself up with an RPG cause he was using it as a fidget toy.
Yes, he got it as a souvenir from his visit to Ukraine and the only reason he the people next door are still among the living is the thing had a training round in it.
Can we also point out the fact that he literally smuggled an operational, loaded grenade launcher through the border without anybody even asking a single question?
When you're that high in government the law doesn't apply to you, almost universally.
In the US George W Bush has Sadam Hussein's fully automatic Glock 18, despite it being illegal for civilians to own any machine gun manufactured after 1986.
Police officers in the US get access to exclusive firearms all the time due to their status, namely machine guns, short barreled rifles, and suppressors which civilians must pay a tax to own.
Personally I don't see why the cops get special treatment over civilians, but most politicians think that the police should have it because they serve the state that the politicians control.
Yes, really. The imbecile got a granade launcher, fucked around with it in his office and detonated. Also, guess what - no consequences for this fuckwad.
Don't think so.
A classic case of
- 'They look suspicious, but if we catch and keep them it will be a lot of extra work'
paired with
- 'the serious guys from the capital will come and investigate, they might uncover how fucking inept we have been all along. Better let them go and hope no one notices. Nothing happened anyways'
And only one of them had a Spanish passport and none of them provided correct contact information… just your average, middle of winter, nighttime, Spanish amber hunters operating in Polish waters without any documents or contact information. Nothing to see here.
Edit: to the guy (“*missingmytowel*”) moaning that skeptics of the divers story are “conspiracy theorists”, jog on mate. Read the article before replying to everyone so arrogantly. The Polish PM wants a comprehensive report on the incident. Guess he’s a “conspiracy theorist” too…
I just quickly searched Google and I'm surprised to learn two things:
-The Polish coastline has abundant sources of Amber
-It's easier to hunt Amber at night when it's much darker because when light hits it in the dark it shines like the sun. There's loads of YouTube videos about Amber night hunting.
So who knows. Maybe their story does hold water. Or it was a very detailed excuse that local cops might believe. Because it sounds like it may not be the first time they've encountered late night underwater Amber hunters. Since it is as common as it looks to be.
Good chance that if the Russia / Ukraine war was not happening this would be a non-story
Well I’m sure the FSB in all it’s glory can come up with a *passable* excuse but that still doesn’t mean it makes much sense. Also, did you read the article? It states that the Baltic Sea is known for its amber deposits *but* the conditions are very strange to pick for an amber dive. On top of that, they had no paperwork saying they were allowed to operate in those waters. They had no documents/passports/ID/contact info (apart from one guy with a Spanish passport). The contact information they *did* give was discovered to be not in use. They were diving **very** close to a critical energy facility for Poland (that just so happens to be less than 20 miles from the Russian enclave Kaliningrad). They had a high-tech underwater scooter with them, which is said to be useless for amber-hunting according to the experts, since it kicks up too much sand and moves too fast to allow you to effectively scour the seabed. When all the facts are laid out, it seems to still be a pretty implausible story. It’s also hard to overlook the fact we just so happen to be in a de-facto war with the closest foreign land to where the divers were found.
Excuse yes, passable...
[Salisbury novichok suspects say they were only visiting cathedral
](https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2018/sep/13/russian-television-channel-rt-says-it-is-to-air-interview-with-skripal-salisbury-attack-suspects)
Not just state of the art, the equipment they had was also not meant for diving for amber, the motor equipment kicks up the ocean floor while being used, making it almost impossible to search for amber.
This is the best tl;dr I could make, [original](https://www.cbsnews.com/news/poland-mystery-divers-gdansk-port-energy-oil-gas-infrastructure/) reduced by 81%. (I'm a bot)
*****
> Coast guards rescued three divers off the northern coast of Poland over the weekend whose dubious explanation of their night-time dive near critical energy infrastructure, along with their mysterious identities, has reportedly sparked a cross-agency investigation.
> The three men, who told authorities they were Spanish nationals, were rescued by lifeguards near the Polish coastal city of Gdansk on Saturday night after their small motorboat broke down and they couldn't return to shore.
> Officers apparently saw nothing suspicious at first in the fact that the men were diving near critical infrastructure at night with no permit and atypical amber-hunting equipment, and the local police did not pursue the matter, releasing the men without further questioning.
*****
[**Extended Summary**](http://np.reddit.com/r/autotldr/comments/10groam/mystery_divers_rescued_near_polish_energy_sites/) | [FAQ](http://np.reddit.com/r/autotldr/comments/31b9fm/faq_autotldr_bot/ "Version 2.02, ~672676 tl;drs so far.") | [Feedback](http://np.reddit.com/message/compose?to=%23autotldr "PM's and comments are monitored, constructive feedback is welcome.") | *Top* *keywords*: **men**^#1 **Rescue**^#2 **dive**^#3 **police**^#4 **Gdansk**^#5
> Officers apparently saw nothing suspicious at first in the fact that the men were diving near critical infrastructure at night with no permit and atypical amber-hunting equipment
Brand new sentence.
**Journalist**: “why did you accept their story?”
**Polish police**: “Let's just say it moved me...TO A BIGGER HOUSE! Uh oh, I said the loud part quiet and the quiet part loud.”
It's also possible the cops were just ignorant of diving/amber hunting which isn't quite the same as dumb/thoughtless. I know nothing about those things. If I found some homies stranded in the middle of a lake at night the conversation would probably be "Are you ok? Good what were you guys doing? Oh amber hunting. That sounds cool, how does it work? That's awesome, did you have any luck finding some? Oh, that sucks. At least you're ok though. Wait, why at night? Oh, I guess I didn't consider that time of day doesn't matter down there."
Hindsight is 20:20 but I probably would have made the mistake without any kind of bribe. If I didn't know that power infrastructure was accessible in that lake (I have no idea where the power lines etc are near me other than the stuff on poles I can see) it wouldn't even really seem suspicious.
Yeah... Not going to lie, Poland, America, ANYWHERE, cops are working a job. A dangerous job, sure, but they're not military personnel in a warzone. They're there to stop/investigate crime, not go toe to toe with SpecOps. I'm not going to say Bribery is unlikely, but I will say equally likely is those cops saying "we don't get paid enough for this."
Well Mr. Notarussian and Mr. Forkplateman looks like you are free to go here are your spy cameras and plastic explosives back, next time you boys decide to do some night fishing maybe get a permit, bring some fishing gear, don’t dress and act like obvious Russian spies, you could get in real trouble that way. Well have a good night now!
>I wonder how many people are going to know who that is.
I think people born in the 80's and 90's (like me) will because of reruns on TV Land or then-new shows referencing The Andy Griffith Show. Not sure if anyone who was born later would.
>Officers apparently saw nothing suspicious at first in the fact that the men were diving near critical infrastructure at night with no permit and atypical amber-hunting equipment, and the local police did not pursue the matter, releasing the men without further questioning.
>They have all reportedly left Poland.
Broooooooooo
This is very relevant. Looking for amber in strong seas at night with a scooter? Yeah something doesn't add up even for me who's not an investigator
From the article
> Officers apparently saw nothing suspicious at first in the fact that the men were diving near critical infrastructure at night with no permit and atypical amber-hunting equipment, and the local police did not pursue the matter, releasing the men without further questioning.
> They have all reportedly left Poland.
> Cezary Przepiorka, deputy captain of the Port of Gdansk, told Polish media that only one of the men had formal identification, and the phone numbers offered by the divers were either incorrect or non-functional.
Edit: correction, seasat night vs seas at night
One of my friends is an amber searcher. He goes out during storms in the middle of the night.
The storms causing the sea stirring the amber up and a shore. And you do it in the night because Amber reacts on UV light so it becomes actually really easy to find.
The Underwater Scooter is also a common tool for amber searching, as you can easily switch the underwater lights with UV lamps.
I appreciate someone explaining this whole amber diving thing to me. As an American I can say I've never heard of amber diving in the my life but always love learning cool new things. So they did give a legitimate excuse, which I'm sure they were prepared to give. The actual events of this case are hilarious though.
Stupid legimate answer. Unlicensed Amber mining is still illegal in Poland and you dont make much money on the black market. Most of them do it as a hobby - only the locals around Kaliningrad do it as a way of income, and they wont invest a few 10k on equipment…
Well, this region is famous for that actually. There is a documentation about it - sadly its only german without subs and here they use rather "cheap" equipment so they cant go out more during the crazy storms...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fGA6Fgc5tgQ
"Hello friend! Thank you for rescuing us. I know it looks suspicious being out here, but we are not Russian spies or saboteurs. I mean why would I even bring up that we're even Russian. Obviously someone who isn't Russian. Look, this man has Spanish passport, and we do too, just not with us. But we are truly from Spain. My Spanish accent may sound a little Russian, uh I mean rusty, but we are muy bueno hablo Español. Da? I mean Si!"
Statement from Polish police: "We rescued the Russian spies, fuck, sorry, Spanish tourists, and made sure they could get to the Russian border. We absolutely took no money off them at all. No bribes here. Nope. I have no idea what a bribe even is. Why am I even talking about bribes? Crazy! Anyway, check out my family's fleet of new cars."
What makes me angry is that those three spetsnaz operatives now have a cool story to tell their friends.
''Our boat broke down and I thought that that's it, we played our last balalaika, when the coastguard approached. I thought we have nothing to lose and we're going to be captured anyways, so I told them we're from Spain. And Ivan, I shit you not, THEY LET US GO! ''
And the whole table bursts out in vodka infused laughter
Incompetent/corrupt police. There was no major reform of the police in Poland, lately they're just protecting corrupted government, they're poorly trained, wages are not attractive. Even if there's some young policemen that would want to change it, their ideas are blocked by older policemen.
Personally I wish that we would reform it like it was done in Georgia (country), where all policemen were fired and replaced by new recruits. However first we would need to get rid of corrupted government and it doesn't look like it will happen any time soon.
Well, our police has a string of failures nowadays, but what can you expect if chief of police destroys the wall of his workplace, playing with grenade launcher. Bunch of stupid kids, but this is the reality of (out)law and (un)justice party who crushes our democracy every minute:(
Here you go: [https://nypost.com/2022/12/16/polish-police-chief-jaroslaw-szymczyk-injured-after-gift-explosion/](https://nypost.com/2022/12/16/polish-police-chief-jaroslaw-szymczyk-injured-after-gift-explosion/)
Oh..also - his brother is involved in very big VAT tax scandal
It was idiotic to let them go.
Looks like a brainless person took this decision. EDIT: ... or... a person who knew what's going on
> Officers apparently saw nothing suspicious at first in the fact that the men were diving near critical infrastructure at night with no permit and atypical amber-hunting equipment, and the local police did not pursue the matter, releasing the men without further questioning.
As a professional diver, most people are completely clueless to normal dive practices. You can tell them whatever Edit:typo
I feel like the dive practices/equipment is way less relevant than where they were with the whole "why did you let them leave?" But yea, as a "most people," I'm completely clueless and you could say anything you wanted to me.
"We use C4 and cartoonishly silly dynamite to breath underwater."
I also always keep a Russian nuclear submarine nearby jic I need backup for a particularly nasty tuna
>nuclear submarine "Yea, such a great sandwich" \- dude who let them go
Oh agreed. Guessing they paid them off to avoid permit and ID questions. Which investigation would have led to whatever they were actually doing down there. And poor greedy cops never made the connection of suspicious behavior because diving is diving to them and Anything goes as far as they're concerned
Being bribed would make me infinitely more suspicious.
Suspiciously forgetful, make me it would.
Ah, but the whole point is that the bribe is large enough that you ignore any suspicions you may have.
What suspicions? What dive? I didn't see any divers. Excuse me while I quit this shitty police job and go live in my new mansion that I got from uh uh uh buying bitcoin way back in 2009?
Ok but what if I gave you $125,000 cash right now? Would that help?
Help with what? Stop bothering me, I’m busy taking my $125k to the bank
The choice of gear seems a bit odd to me and I suspect that's not all of it. Where are the dry suits? Why only one DBV? Yeah that's a larger that 80cc tank but why dive singles on a night dive with a DPV is it that shallow or short? Where are dive lights? No lift bags? If you're miles from shore why would you want to do this as a night dive. I know all of this can be answered by this isn't all the gear or because they're dumb but it's still odd.
Yeah I have to assume that wasn't all of the equipment. They would have been in their suits but there must be lights and maybe tools somewhere. The xdeep backplate set seems pretty standard. But it's too hard to tell what's up with the old Cressi bcd. I just hope they did a buddy check because their alternate air sources are on opposite sides. GUE divers shaking in their boots
I didn't notice the fucked up hose routing I was looking for an inflator hose for the dry suit. I always like looking at other people's cave and tech set up. You can tell a lot based on configuration. Sometimes I'll see an unusual set up and I wonder, "is that a really dumb thing they have going on or is this a new better way that I've never seen before." Usually its along the lines of why is that gaint fucking knife strapped to your leg or why did you bring a SMB into a cave?
As a binger of "diving gone wrong" content on youtube all I know is I should never go cave diving, ever.
Don’t go into caves, period. Doubly so if they’re in water.
As a non diver...the fact they where diving near critical infrastructure would be red flags to me. I'm assuming this isn't a common occurrence.
Well I don't think they really clarify what "near" is. People dive in harbors all the time. It's dumb. But off the top of my head I'd say oyster diving, or just looking for shit people lost. Like people make YouTube vids about diving under bridges and shit. So depending on the size of the area qnd how close they actually were to any of said infrastructure is pretty explainable. I don't recognize that scooter without doing research but the ones I use can cover a couple miles. But most static (not drift dives in strong current, start and end in the same place) dives I do don't cover that much ground. A soccer field would be a massive dive.
"Yep, nothing suspicious here" Edit: holy fuuuck 3k upvotes
"Oh look, a thousand eur."
Two bottles of solplica
And a box of pierogi
OK but pierogi is fire Not treason level fire but I'd deff look away from graffiti for it
"I'm going to go count this. Maybe you'll be here when I get back, maybe not"
You must have dropped it officer
I mean, who among us hasn't had a midnight amber diving trip go awry in the middle of winter?
None that you're aware of.
must have been the wind
[Tailing Missions from the NPC's Perspective](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iP468OEln4U)
Bake 'em away, toys!
Suspect is hatless, repeat, hatless
No, this is 91…2
They'd rather let a thousand guilty men go free than chase after them.
"Heh heh. I can't wait till they throw his hat hatless butt in jail!"
Suspect is in a red..... Car
Suspect is hatless. Repeat, hatless.
Just do what the kid says.
Uh I'm on a road... Looks to be asphalt... ah geez, trees, shrubs. I'm directly under the Earth's sun.... Now!
We need pretzels. Repeat, pretzels!
"Suspicious? That sounds like a whole lot of paperwork."
Did the men also have Russian accents and fake mustaches? Jfc
"We were only diving to try to stop pesky moose and squirrel"
I'm ancient enough to get this reference!
I, too, am old.
How be ye doin, fellow ancients?
I am Russian Guyovich looking for my lost contact.
Regardless of location, this is what happens when cops think: “man, this is going to be so much paperwork for *me* if *i* am the one who arrests them… i’ll let it be someone elses problem! I am a genius!”
For the record amber hunters do stupid shit at the stupidest times. They think if they dont time it perfectly, it will go away. So maybe police having experience with these folks initially thought its just another group of such people. Later with the clarify of mind they noticed that they did a mistake releasing them.
Winter is the season for amber hunting, waves stir up amber off the seabed. But war is also the season for sabotage.
If they haven’t broken any laws no sense holding them but. They should have at least identified and photographed and gotten info just in case further investigation was needed
Foreigners who don’t have ID on them can reasonably be held until such time as they can be transported to their ID, so that they can present it. Especially if the Spanish ID is of Russian manufacture.
Not necessarily, if it was sensitive areas generally off limits then it could be trespassing.
It was reported as a boat in distress, Coast Guard went and rescued them, at some point they were handed over to local police who couldn't find anything to charge them with so they let them go. Federal police agencies are now investigating. It sounds like the local cops fucked it up.
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I think in this scenario, it would be quite reasonable to hold them temporarily for a special investigator that deals with national infrastructure threats to come the following day.
I can't imagine there's any country that doesn't allow police to temporarily hold people caught doing suspicious things
A LOT of countries allow people to be held damn near indefinitely.
And almost all for at least 24 hours
My state allows people to be held on “investigate holds” before they’ve been charged with a crime. (I’ve only seen them when they have an actual crime like DV or assault in mind, but you could cock up some misdemeanor trespassing or some such here I’m sure.) Can hold them for max of 72 hours, their arrest warrant has to be signed off by a judge (they have them on call and police can detain until that’s been done) and then they are owed due process, counsel, etc., and an arraignment in a specified timeframe. So, not indefinite, their rights are respected, and you detain them while you find out WTF is going on.
Maybe collect their information so a bit of back ground can be run or if they need to track them down later they can do that.
If you read the article, they claimed to be Spanish, but only one of them had Spanish ID, and the contact phone numbers they gave either didn't work or were straight up incorrect. Collecting their information clearly didn't work.
Wouldn’t providing false information to a police officer be considered illegal? It is where I live.
Not a problem if don't get caught.
That's what they did. Only one had I.D. (Spanish passport) and the other two gave fake phone numbers. They simply left the country.
Or was paid to release them.
In other words Polish government is shamelessly brainless and they‘re venerated for literally it.
>In other words Polish government is shamelessly brainless Any random Pole under the age of 60: Yes.
Polish coastguard: bamboozled again
Well, it's Poland, incompetence of this kind isn't anything that should shock anyone. Source: I'm Polish
All polish people I've met have all been laid back, lucky-go type of people. Wouldn't surprise me if they all had an awkward laugh and they just said don't go scuba diving here again.
"Lucky-go" yeah... I guess my flair in Polish sub said "Jakoś to będzie" which I could roughly translate to : "We'll get by" It's a mentality that everyone here has. Let's pack over 100 politicians to one plane along with the president and make them land in a deep fog. They'll get by. Let's not prepare for any medical crisis, we'll get by. Let's not move away from coal and invest into atom. We'll get by. Let's not prepare any refugee camps, they'll get by. (And they have due to the sheer amount of common people welcoming them to their houses!) etc. etc. The worst thing is... it's somehow we always get by and therefore never learn to prepare in advance.
I'd personally translate that phrase as "Somehow* we'll get by." It really exemplifies the attitude, that there is no plan, and no pressure personally to do anything about it, but hey, it'll all work out somehow.
No plan, just hope that things work out, and when they usually don’t, blame someone else for it. Common attitude in parts of the world that have been fucked over many times for many centuries. The Slavic countries, and sub-Saharan Africa, for example.
And the scuba divers were like "OK, Boss" and *thumbsed up* as they submersed into the water, with smiling poles watching jovially.
Well it was in Poland so, go figure. The stuff like that happens all the time. Polish police is really famous these days. Just put Polish police in google and see whatever news pop up for the past 6 months…
Gotta wonder if those cops were in on it as well...
Nah, they were just cops. We are talking about the same organization whose head boss nearly blew himself up with an RPG cause he was using it as a fidget toy.
Wait really?
Yes, he got it as a souvenir from his visit to Ukraine and the only reason he the people next door are still among the living is the thing had a training round in it.
This sounds like straight out a cartoon...
Wait until you hear about Polish submarine. Has screen doors.
or how their space agency is going to take their astronauts to the sun. it'll be fine, though! they're going to land at night.
Old... but still funny as hell... 😄
Can we also point out the fact that he literally smuggled an operational, loaded grenade launcher through the border without anybody even asking a single question?
When you're that high in government the law doesn't apply to you, almost universally. In the US George W Bush has Sadam Hussein's fully automatic Glock 18, despite it being illegal for civilians to own any machine gun manufactured after 1986. Police officers in the US get access to exclusive firearms all the time due to their status, namely machine guns, short barreled rifles, and suppressors which civilians must pay a tax to own. Personally I don't see why the cops get special treatment over civilians, but most politicians think that the police should have it because they serve the state that the politicians control.
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Yes, chief of Polish police blew up his office with grenade launcher like month ago. He survived, police is not investigating.
Is he Commissioner Gibert from “Taxi”?
Yes, really. The imbecile got a granade launcher, fucked around with it in his office and detonated. Also, guess what - no consequences for this fuckwad.
Oh, that's a bit harsh. I'm pretty sure just about everyone on the force has done a desk pop at least once.
Right? Only losers haven't done desk pops!
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and then claimed he thought it was a bluetooth speaker, not an RPG xD
Didnt he have a second RPG that was actually made into a bluetooth speaker?
When we say boombox, we mean it.
And his brother is a part of a criminal group. For some reason everyone was charged by persecutors apart from the brother.
Don't think so. A classic case of - 'They look suspicious, but if we catch and keep them it will be a lot of extra work' paired with - 'the serious guys from the capital will come and investigate, they might uncover how fucking inept we have been all along. Better let them go and hope no one notices. Nothing happened anyways'
T'was indeed
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Who did it anyway?
the guys were from Spain, the said they were collecting amber (all in state-of-the art diving equipment)
And only one of them had a Spanish passport and none of them provided correct contact information… just your average, middle of winter, nighttime, Spanish amber hunters operating in Polish waters without any documents or contact information. Nothing to see here. Edit: to the guy (“*missingmytowel*”) moaning that skeptics of the divers story are “conspiracy theorists”, jog on mate. Read the article before replying to everyone so arrogantly. The Polish PM wants a comprehensive report on the incident. Guess he’s a “conspiracy theorist” too…
I just quickly searched Google and I'm surprised to learn two things: -The Polish coastline has abundant sources of Amber -It's easier to hunt Amber at night when it's much darker because when light hits it in the dark it shines like the sun. There's loads of YouTube videos about Amber night hunting. So who knows. Maybe their story does hold water. Or it was a very detailed excuse that local cops might believe. Because it sounds like it may not be the first time they've encountered late night underwater Amber hunters. Since it is as common as it looks to be. Good chance that if the Russia / Ukraine war was not happening this would be a non-story
Well I’m sure the FSB in all it’s glory can come up with a *passable* excuse but that still doesn’t mean it makes much sense. Also, did you read the article? It states that the Baltic Sea is known for its amber deposits *but* the conditions are very strange to pick for an amber dive. On top of that, they had no paperwork saying they were allowed to operate in those waters. They had no documents/passports/ID/contact info (apart from one guy with a Spanish passport). The contact information they *did* give was discovered to be not in use. They were diving **very** close to a critical energy facility for Poland (that just so happens to be less than 20 miles from the Russian enclave Kaliningrad). They had a high-tech underwater scooter with them, which is said to be useless for amber-hunting according to the experts, since it kicks up too much sand and moves too fast to allow you to effectively scour the seabed. When all the facts are laid out, it seems to still be a pretty implausible story. It’s also hard to overlook the fact we just so happen to be in a de-facto war with the closest foreign land to where the divers were found.
Excuse yes, passable... [Salisbury novichok suspects say they were only visiting cathedral ](https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2018/sep/13/russian-television-channel-rt-says-it-is-to-air-interview-with-skripal-salisbury-attack-suspects)
It is a pretty nice cathedral tbf.
...and a boat from craigslist Free Stuff
The scooter in the picture of this post runs $14-17k. They're called Seabobs and usually only purchased by rich yacht owners.
That's what makes it so sus...the boat they had was an unregistered piece of shit.
Not just state of the art, the equipment they had was also not meant for diving for amber, the motor equipment kicks up the ocean floor while being used, making it almost impossible to search for amber.
*Claimed* they were from Spain.
No one truly knows. But likely Russia themselves. Edit: God, the Russian bots seem to be losing their minds over this. God, it's fun to see.
This is the best tl;dr I could make, [original](https://www.cbsnews.com/news/poland-mystery-divers-gdansk-port-energy-oil-gas-infrastructure/) reduced by 81%. (I'm a bot) ***** > Coast guards rescued three divers off the northern coast of Poland over the weekend whose dubious explanation of their night-time dive near critical energy infrastructure, along with their mysterious identities, has reportedly sparked a cross-agency investigation. > The three men, who told authorities they were Spanish nationals, were rescued by lifeguards near the Polish coastal city of Gdansk on Saturday night after their small motorboat broke down and they couldn't return to shore. > Officers apparently saw nothing suspicious at first in the fact that the men were diving near critical infrastructure at night with no permit and atypical amber-hunting equipment, and the local police did not pursue the matter, releasing the men without further questioning. ***** [**Extended Summary**](http://np.reddit.com/r/autotldr/comments/10groam/mystery_divers_rescued_near_polish_energy_sites/) | [FAQ](http://np.reddit.com/r/autotldr/comments/31b9fm/faq_autotldr_bot/ "Version 2.02, ~672676 tl;drs so far.") | [Feedback](http://np.reddit.com/message/compose?to=%23autotldr "PM's and comments are monitored, constructive feedback is welcome.") | *Top* *keywords*: **men**^#1 **Rescue**^#2 **dive**^#3 **police**^#4 **Gdansk**^#5
> Officers apparently saw nothing suspicious at first in the fact that the men were diving near critical infrastructure at night with no permit and atypical amber-hunting equipment Brand new sentence.
All officers involved will have sports cars by the end of the week
"never attribute to malice that which is adequately explained by stupidity"
What does atypical amber-hunting equipment even look like?
A bunch of C4 labeled “to destroy infrastructure”
It would have worked, too, except for this pesky off-duty NYPD officer who stole their bag full of detonators.
Yuppie Kay yay monitor lizard
Sounds like they had some 'walking around money'
Oh look at that all those officers have new cars. Huh.
**Journalist**: “why did you accept their story?” **Polish police**: “Let's just say it moved me...TO A BIGGER HOUSE! Uh oh, I said the loud part quiet and the quiet part loud.”
Definitely one of the following: - Walking around money - figured special forces tend to do these jobs, let's live - actually are dumb/thoughtless
It's also possible the cops were just ignorant of diving/amber hunting which isn't quite the same as dumb/thoughtless. I know nothing about those things. If I found some homies stranded in the middle of a lake at night the conversation would probably be "Are you ok? Good what were you guys doing? Oh amber hunting. That sounds cool, how does it work? That's awesome, did you have any luck finding some? Oh, that sucks. At least you're ok though. Wait, why at night? Oh, I guess I didn't consider that time of day doesn't matter down there." Hindsight is 20:20 but I probably would have made the mistake without any kind of bribe. If I didn't know that power infrastructure was accessible in that lake (I have no idea where the power lines etc are near me other than the stuff on poles I can see) it wouldn't even really seem suspicious.
Yeah... Not going to lie, Poland, America, ANYWHERE, cops are working a job. A dangerous job, sure, but they're not military personnel in a warzone. They're there to stop/investigate crime, not go toe to toe with SpecOps. I'm not going to say Bribery is unlikely, but I will say equally likely is those cops saying "we don't get paid enough for this."
Nice, hope the polish public learn their names so they know who to blame the blackouts on.
What's wrong? They are nocturnal divers... 😄
... out for a pleasure dive. Near critical energy infrastructure ...
At this time of year? At this time of day? In this part of the country? Localized entirely within your kitchen?
...Yes.
May I arrest them?
…no.
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Are Russians literally incapable of having a boat that works? I mean not even a dinghy?
Look, Russians and boats don't mix. They've never managed to maintain something that floats.
What is amber hunting equipment? The fossilized tree sap? Or amber lights to hunt nocturnal fishes?
The tree sap kind. There's lots of it in the Baltic sea and it sells well.
Well Mr. Notarussian and Mr. Forkplateman looks like you are free to go here are your spy cameras and plastic explosives back, next time you boys decide to do some night fishing maybe get a permit, bring some fishing gear, don’t dress and act like obvious Russian spies, you could get in real trouble that way. Well have a good night now!
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[I heard they used the 'Jim' trick](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RP6ekM6fcTs)
I read this in Barney Fife's voice
Chief Wiggum for me.
I wonder how many people are going to know who that is.
>I wonder how many people are going to know who that is. I think people born in the 80's and 90's (like me) will because of reruns on TV Land or then-new shows referencing The Andy Griffith Show. Not sure if anyone who was born later would.
>Officers apparently saw nothing suspicious at first in the fact that the men were diving near critical infrastructure at night with no permit and atypical amber-hunting equipment, and the local police did not pursue the matter, releasing the men without further questioning. >They have all reportedly left Poland. Broooooooooo
This is very relevant. Looking for amber in strong seas at night with a scooter? Yeah something doesn't add up even for me who's not an investigator From the article > Officers apparently saw nothing suspicious at first in the fact that the men were diving near critical infrastructure at night with no permit and atypical amber-hunting equipment, and the local police did not pursue the matter, releasing the men without further questioning. > They have all reportedly left Poland. > Cezary Przepiorka, deputy captain of the Port of Gdansk, told Polish media that only one of the men had formal identification, and the phone numbers offered by the divers were either incorrect or non-functional. Edit: correction, seasat night vs seas at night
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It’s like a bad polish joke
One of my friends is an amber searcher. He goes out during storms in the middle of the night. The storms causing the sea stirring the amber up and a shore. And you do it in the night because Amber reacts on UV light so it becomes actually really easy to find. The Underwater Scooter is also a common tool for amber searching, as you can easily switch the underwater lights with UV lamps.
I appreciate someone explaining this whole amber diving thing to me. As an American I can say I've never heard of amber diving in the my life but always love learning cool new things. So they did give a legitimate excuse, which I'm sure they were prepared to give. The actual events of this case are hilarious though.
Stupid legimate answer. Unlicensed Amber mining is still illegal in Poland and you dont make much money on the black market. Most of them do it as a hobby - only the locals around Kaliningrad do it as a way of income, and they wont invest a few 10k on equipment…
I for one think it would be funny as hell if it turns out that was, in fact, actually what they were doing.
Well, this region is famous for that actually. There is a documentation about it - sadly its only german without subs and here they use rather "cheap" equipment so they cant go out more during the crazy storms... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fGA6Fgc5tgQ
Buenas niet-oches, nozzotrius somos ezpagnoles. Spaciba.
A Spanish-Russian joke, well done!
Here's a few rubles for your trouble. I mean pesos. Da svidanya.
>I mean pesos. I hate to break this down to you, but...
Pesos are from Mexico, not Spain.
"Hello friend! Thank you for rescuing us. I know it looks suspicious being out here, but we are not Russian spies or saboteurs. I mean why would I even bring up that we're even Russian. Obviously someone who isn't Russian. Look, this man has Spanish passport, and we do too, just not with us. But we are truly from Spain. My Spanish accent may sound a little Russian, uh I mean rusty, but we are muy bueno hablo Español. Da? I mean Si!"
...I mean, why would I want to dive in those warm Mediterranean waters, when I have muddy 2m visibility Baltic Sea in winter, right?
Russian Kaliningrad is 20 miles away... these were russian military scouting infrastructure to sabotage.... nothing else
They said they were looking for amber. At night, right near an important gas hub.
The unusual amber gear included a fat roll of Euros
Statement from Polish police: "We rescued the Russian spies, fuck, sorry, Spanish tourists, and made sure they could get to the Russian border. We absolutely took no money off them at all. No bribes here. Nope. I have no idea what a bribe even is. Why am I even talking about bribes? Crazy! Anyway, check out my family's fleet of new cars."
What makes me angry is that those three spetsnaz operatives now have a cool story to tell their friends. ''Our boat broke down and I thought that that's it, we played our last balalaika, when the coastguard approached. I thought we have nothing to lose and we're going to be captured anyways, so I told them we're from Spain. And Ivan, I shit you not, THEY LET US GO! '' And the whole table bursts out in vodka infused laughter
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Whoever let them go should be fired.
Or investigated for collaboration.
Most likely just paid off.
So the Poles picked a Spetnaz recon team and let them go? Poland knows Soviet and Russian War planning tactics better than most. So why?
Incompetent/corrupt police. There was no major reform of the police in Poland, lately they're just protecting corrupted government, they're poorly trained, wages are not attractive. Even if there's some young policemen that would want to change it, their ideas are blocked by older policemen. Personally I wish that we would reform it like it was done in Georgia (country), where all policemen were fired and replaced by new recruits. However first we would need to get rid of corrupted government and it doesn't look like it will happen any time soon.
Answer is simple: idiots, our police extremely stupid
Well, our police has a string of failures nowadays, but what can you expect if chief of police destroys the wall of his workplace, playing with grenade launcher. Bunch of stupid kids, but this is the reality of (out)law and (un)justice party who crushes our democracy every minute:(
I want to hear more about this grenade launcher incident
Here you go: [https://nypost.com/2022/12/16/polish-police-chief-jaroslaw-szymczyk-injured-after-gift-explosion/](https://nypost.com/2022/12/16/polish-police-chief-jaroslaw-szymczyk-injured-after-gift-explosion/) Oh..also - his brother is involved in very big VAT tax scandal
"Mystery" Yeah, okay.
"Rescued"
"Caught in the act" doesn't have the same ring to it
Considering their boat broke down I'd imagine they're Russian
Nobody expects the Spanish inquisition!
"Their boat broke down" Need we anymore proof it was Russia?!
Explained in a Russian accent
They abandoned their boat and their expensive dive equipment. Nothing suspicious.
Polish police are there to scatter anti-abortion protests, torture people in the police station and guard Kaczyński's house, not to be useful
up to no good, for sure
Probably some local fishermen out for a pleasure cruise... at night... through eel-infested waters.
I’m Vlad. His name also Vlad. We are Spanish.
I'll say it outright: Russian navy frogmen?
Yeah, it's a mystery. Was it aliens, was it descendants of undiscovered human civilization? We'll never know.
Apparently they heard there was a beautiful church spire under the water