Russia is ‘suspected of planting a bomb’ on a plane bound for the United Kingdom that caused a warehouse fire

Counter-terrorism police are investigating whether Russian spies planted a bomb in a package that caught fire in a delivery warehouse after arriving by plane in Britain.

Fire crews and staff tackled the blaze on July 22 at the DHL warehouse in Minworth, near Birmingham.

No one is believed to have been injured in the incident first reported by The Guardian and German broadcasters.

The package – which is believed to contain an incendiary device – is believed to have arrived at the DHL warehouse by air, but further details about the plane and its flight path are unknown.

A similar incident reportedly occurred in Germany the same month and investigators are looking into links between the two.

A Counter Terrorism Policing spokeswoman said: “We can confirm that Counter Terrorism Policing officers are investigating an incident at a business premises in Midpoint Way, Minworth.

“On Monday, July 22, a package caught fire at the location. The issue was attended to by staff and the local fire department at the time and there were no reports of injuries or significant damage caused.

“Due to the circumstances, and the specialist capacity and experience in investigating such matters, the investigation is being led by officers from the Met Counter Terrorism Command with support from colleagues from West Midlands Counter Terrorism Policing.

“The investigation remains ongoing and there have been no arrests in our investigation at this time. As part of our investigations, officers are liaising with other European law enforcement partners to identify whether or not this may be linked to any other incidents of a similar type across Europe.”

It comes after MI5 chief Ken McCallum warned last week that Russia intends to cause “chaos” on the streets of the UK.

The security agency’s director-general said Britain should “expect to see continued acts of aggression here at home” from Russia, with its military intelligence agency, the GRU, on “sustained missions”, adding: “We have seen arson, sabotage and more.”

Moscow’s embassy in London disputed McCallum’s statement, describing it as “unfounded” and claiming that Russia itself was “the real target of proxy and mercenary warfare, as well as hostile intelligence operations” conducted by the United Kingdom and by its NATO allies.

DHL said it is taking steps to “protect its network, people and assets, as well as customer shipments, by implementing enhanced security measures in all European countries, as a reaction to ongoing investigations by security authorities. several countries.”