Russian agents carried out a series of terrorist attacks in Europe — they were detained

As part of the pre-trial investigation, it was established that on July 19, 2024, Lithuanian citizen A. Sh., acting together with accomplices, used the international delivery and transportation services of DHL and DPD and sent 4 parcels with homemade explosive devices from Vilnius to various European countries.

On July 20, 2024, at 05:45, the first package exploded and caught fire at Leipzig Airport (Germany) just before being loaded onto a DHL plane flying the Vilnius–Leipzig–United Kingdom route.

A second parcel exploded and caught fire in a DPD truck in Poland on July 21 at 02:15.

A third package exploded and caught fire at a DHL warehouse in Birmingham, UK, on July 22 at 03:36.

The fourth parcel, transported by DPD ground transport through Poland, failed due to a malfunction in the detonation mechanism.

The investigation found that the powerful incendiary improvised explosive devices were controlled by electronic timers hidden in massage pillows. Additional mixtures of flammable substances to enhance the incendiary effect were in tubes from hygiene and cosmetics. Thermite, an industrial and military substance with an extremely high burning temperature, was used to achieve the effect of destruction.

The investigation established that the organization and coordination of these crimes were carried out by citizens of the Russian Federation who have ties to the Russian military intelligence.

It is noted that several crime coordinators are directly linked to the attempted terrorist attack on May 9, 2024 in Vilnius, when the IKEA shopping center was set on fire. These are Ukrainian citizen Danylo Gromov, who also uses the personal data of Russian citizen Yaroslav Mikhailov; Tomas Dovgan Stabachinskas, who has Lithuanian and Russian citizenship.

During the preparation of the terrorist attacks, other citizens of Lithuania, Russia, Latvia, Estonia, and Ukraine were also involved in individual tasks. They were found through acquaintances, recruited, and maintained contact via Telegram, offering rewards and paying in cryptocurrency.

The group acted in an organized manner, adhering to strict secrecy, dividing tasks: transporting parcels and fuels, transferring them to other participants, hiding in hiding places, activating devices, etc. were assigned to different performers, who were most often unrelated to each other.

In total, more than 30 searches were conducted in Lithuania, Poland, Latvia and Estonia. During the complex investigative actions, explosives hidden in cans, as well as detonators, were seized from illegal circulation.

At this stage of the pre-trial investigation, a total of 15 suspects — citizens of the Russian Federation, Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, and Ukraine — have been charged with organizing and preparing the aforementioned crimes.