US ultimate target for Russian incendiary devices hidden on jets, say officials
Fires at cargo warehouses in Birmingham, United Kingdom, and Leipzig, Germany, caused by incendiary devices hidden in packages may have been part of a larger plan to target aircraft bound for the United States (US) and Canada.
Russia is suspected of being involved in the plot to smuggle incendiary devices from Lithuania into the UK and Germany with the plan to target North America further in the future.
The fires in Birmingham and Germany both broke out in July 2024, while stored in warehouses and had previously been transported on DHL cargo planes, according to the Wall Street Journal.
It is understood that the package in Leipzig was also destined for the UK with both parcels due to be delivered to Birmingham addresses.
“The group’s goal was also to test the transfer channel for such parcels, which were ultimately to be sent to the United States of America and Canada,” Poland’s National Prosecutor’s Office said after arresting four suspects linked to the fires.
Pawel Szota, head of Poland’s spy agency, said he was not sure Russian leaders were “aware of the consequences if one of these packages exploded, causing a mass casualty event”.
The Wall Street Journal also reported that the devices were planted in electric massagers along with a magnesium-based flammable substance.
“These are traditional unsubstantiated insinuations from the media,” said Russian spokesperson Dmitry Peskov in response to the accusations.
Efforts to discover the circumstances behind the fires are a multi-national intelligence operation with spy agencies across Europe involved.
A senior official in the US told the Washington Post that there are “no current active threats involving U.S.-bound flights”.
The consequences of such devices going off midflight are not clear but Thomas Haldenwang, head of the Germany’s domestic intelligence agency, suggested that they could have caused a crash.
European security services are working towards locating two more suspects allegedly involved with the smuggling operation.
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Fires at cargo warehouses in Birmingham, United Kingdom, and Leipzig, Germany, caused by incendiary devices hidden in packages…
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