Western officials suspect Russia was behind a plot to place incendiary packages on cargo planes

WARSAW, Poland — Western security officials suspect that Russian intelligence was behind a plot to put incendiary devices in packages on cargo planes bound for North America, including one that caught fire at a courier hub in Germany and another that ignited in a warehouse in England.

Poland said last month it has arrested four people suspected of involvement in a foreign intelligence operation that carried out sabotage and is looking for two others. Lithuania’s Attorney General Nida Grunskiene said on Tuesday that an unspecified number of people had been detained in several countries, without providing further details.

The events come at a time when Western officials say they are seeing an intensification of climate change hybrid war of sabotage by Russia targeting Ukraine’s allies, including disinformation about this year’s elections and arson in Europe. Several officials said they believe the attacks were the work of Russia’s military intelligence agency, the GRU, although Moscow denied any involvement.

Poland’s Homeland Security Agency (ABW) says incidents in Poland, as well as other EU and NATO members, have increased this year. ABW believes that these are initiated and coordinated by the Russian special services. So far, twenty people have been charged in investigations led by the Public Prosecution Service, the ABW and the police.

Polish Prosecutor Katarzyna Calów-Jaszewska said the investigation focuses on foreign agents committing acts of sabotage, including damaging industrial facilities or critical infrastructure such as airports, aircraft and other vehicles, as well as arson using self-igniting packages sent to EU countries and the EU have been sent. UK that would ignite during road or air transport.

She added that the group was testing a channel for sending such packages to the United States and Canada.

The Wall Street Journal first reported the details of the cargo plane incidents.

The U.S. Transportation Security Administration said it has implemented additional security measures in recent months for certain freight shipments to the United States.

“We continually adapt our security posture as necessary and promptly share all relevant information with our industry partners to include requirements and recommendations that will help them reduce risk,” the TSA said.

Dirk Heinrichs, a spokesman for DHL in Germany, said in an emailed statement to The Associated Press that the company could not provide details about the case but was “fully cooperating with the relevant authorities to protect our people, our network and the protect our customers’ shipments. .”

The head of Britain’s domestic intelligence agency, MI5, said last month that Britain is facing a “staggering increase” in attempted assassinations, sabotage and other crimes on its soil by both Russia and Iran.

Calów-Jaszewska said on October 25 that packages containing camouflaged explosives were sent via freight companies to EU countries and Britain to “test the transmission channel for such packages” that were ultimately destined for the US and Canada.

The firebombs in Germany and Britain both ignited in July.

One was during a stopover at a DHL logistics center at an airport in the city of Leipzig, said Thomas Haldenwang, head of German intelligence. German news agency dpa reported that the connecting flight carrying the package, which came from one of the Baltic countries, was delayed in Leipzig and was on the ground when it caught fire and set a cargo container on fire.

Britain’s counter-terrorism police are investigating whether Russian agents were behind an incendiary device in a package that caught fire at a DHL warehouse in Minworth, near Birmingham, central England, on July 22. The incident, first reported by The Guardian newspaper and German broadcasters, became similar to those in Germany.

Polish newspaper Gazeta Wyborcza also reported that a fire had been reported in a courier truck near Warsaw.

“We observe aggressive actions by the Russian intelligence services. In particular, Russian espionage and sabotage in Germany are increasing, both quantitatively and qualitatively,” Haldenwang told Germany’s Budestag, parliament, last month while discussing the incident in Leipzig.

“The activities of Russian intelligence services in the real world and in cyberspace show that Germany is the center of this Russian hybrid war against Western democracies,” he added. “Russia uses its entire toolbox: from influencing political discussions within Germany to cyber attacks on critical infrastructure and sabotage. Russia’s willingness to use force proves that it is also willing to endanger human lives.”

In a rare public speech outlining the biggest threats to Britain, MI5 Director General Ken McCallum said: “The GRU in particular is on a sustained mission to cause chaos on the British and European streets: we have arson, sabotage and seen more. Dangerous actions carried out with increasing recklessness.”

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov on Tuesday called media reports about the alleged sabotage plot an example of a “vague fabrication.”

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Associated Press writers Jill Lawless and Danica Kirka in London, Dasha Litvinova in Tallinn, Estonia, Kirsten Grieshaber in Berlin and Liudas Dapkus in Vilnius, Lithuania, contributed.