Bielsk Podlaski patrol officers detained a 27-year-old resident of Orla commune after finding drugs in his car at the town marketplace late in the evening.[1] He was taken to a police cell after officers also found a jeweller’s scale in the car and a machete in its boot.[1] A prosecutor has charged him with possessing a significant quantity of narcotic drugs, an offence punishable by up to 10 years in prison.[2]

Officers said they noticed the parked car on the targowica, the marketplace, because the man had been sitting inside it for a long time.[1] When he got out on their order, a pipe containing white powder fell out.[2] A search found a bag with a white substance in his trouser pocket, later identified as mephedrone.[1] In a backpack on the car’s back seat, officers secured over 63 grams of plant material that a preliminary narcotest indicated was marijuana.[1]

Polish drug law punishes possession of a significant quantity with up to 10 years’ imprisonment.[2] Investigators are now examining where the drugs came from, whether they were intended for sale, and why the man was carrying the machete.[2]