Russia suspected of plot to smuggle flammable parcels onto US-bound planes, media reports
Russia may be behind the dispatches of flammable packages via cargo planes in Europe in preparations for similar operations in North America, the Washington Post and the Wall Street Journal separately reported on Nov. 4, citing undisclosed Western security officials.
Intelligence agencies across Europe have warned that Russia is plotting violent acts of sabotage across the continent in response to countries' support for Ukraine.
The officials reportedly suspect Moscow of a plot that saw several parcels sent by individuals to catch fire in Germany and the U.K. in July. This could have led the cargo planes to crash if the fires happened during the flight.
The international investigation revealed that the individuals who sent the inflammable parcels also sent non-flammable freights to the U.S. and Canada in what seems to be a test run before more terrorist acts.
The Washington Post named a case involving a parcel that caught fire in July in a hub run by the DHL courier in Leipzig, Germany. According to the outlet, the package was sent from Lithuania by plane and marked for delivery to a fake address in Birmingham, U.K.
U.K. counter-terrorism officials are also investigating whether Russian intelligence officers planted an incendiary device inside a parcel that caught fire at a warehouse near Birmingham. Polish investigators believe that the fire at Birmingham was part of the plot.
Russia has long engaged in a variety of disruptive behavior toward Europe, also using its cyber capabilities to target civilian infrastructure. Moscow is responsible for 80% of all the foreign influence operations in Europe, Czech Foreign Minister Jan Lipavsky said at a conference in Prague on Oct. 9.
