Warsaw - Asharq Al-Awsat

A Lebanese man was arrested in Poland on Monday on suspicion of planning to carry out terrorist attacks in Western Europe and of having ties with ISIS, Poland's special services said.

Stanislaw Zaryn, spokesman for Poland's special services said the man, whose identity was not made public, was detained on April 16 after being deemed "a real threat to Polish internal security and to our country's citizens.”

The suspect "was planning to set up a network in Poland and elsewhere in the EU that would carry out terror attacks in Western European countries," Zaryn said in a statement published by Agence France Press.

He had "family ties to terrorists belonging to ISIS who died in battle against the coalition forces in Syria and Iraq", the statement added.

The man had apparently been in frequent touch via the internet with ISIS and other individuals linked to the group in EU member countries while he was staying in Poland.

The individual, who is now in a detention center for foreigners in eastern Poland, is also alleged to have provided financial support to ISIS members in Syria.

The Polish statement did not identify the name of the man.