By Daniel Keane
The High Court has ordered Robert Krzysztof Kraska to be surrendered to Poland to face prosecution over alleged organised crime, drug trafficking and money laundering offences.
Polish authorities sought his surrender under a European Arrest Warrant issued in February 2025. The allegations concern conduct between May 2021 and April 2022 and include participation in a criminal group said to have trafficked cannabis and laundered proceeds, transnational trafficking of amphetamine, ketamine and cannabis involving Poland, Ireland and Spain, and concealing proceeds of crime.
Mr Justice Patrick McGrath rejected two objections raised by Kraska.
The first concerned part of the warrant referring to his absence from proceedings. The judge found there was no ambiguity about the purpose of the warrant: Kraska is wanted for prosecution, not to serve a sentence imposed after a trial held in his absence. The reference instead related to an earlier decision to arrest him and impose temporary pre-trial detention.
Kraska also argued that his mental health affected his capacity to participate in the Irish proceedings and that surrender exposed him to a risk of inadequate psychiatric care in Poland.
The court considered medical material referring to bipolar affective disorder, severe depression and anxiety. A report from October 2025 said his ability to participate was temporarily impaired, but the judge found there was no updated evidence showing that he could not understand the proceedings sufficiently or give instructions to his lawyers. His solicitor had also sworn that consultations had taken place and instructions had been obtained.
Polish authorities told the court Kraska would most likely be detained in Gliwice, examined by psychiatrists, kept under medical supervision and provided with prescribed medication. The judge found no basis to doubt those assurances.
He concluded that Kraska had not established a real risk of treatment contrary to Article 3 of the European Convention on Human Rights and ordered his surrender under section 16 of the European Arrest Warrant Act 2003.