Authorities in the United Kingdom suspect that Russia may have planted an incendiary bomb on a courier airplane after the alleged device caught fire at a warehouse in the city of Birmingham, England, this week. British counter-terrorism police say they are investigating the incident, which saw a suspicious fire break out at a warehouse belonging to the courier DHL. The package is believed to be linked to Russia.
The investigation comes just weeks after another case in Leipzig, Germany, in which German domestic intelligence suggested that another DHL air freight package that caught fire could be linked to Russia.
Thomas Haldenwang, the head of the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution, told German lawmakers this week that the package caught fire before the flight took off. He added that if the package had detonated on board the plane in flight, it would have likely crashed.
Reports suggest that the only reason the device did not explode on board the plane is that it was delayed.
“We are observing aggressive behavior by the Russian intelligence services [that is] putting people’s lives at risk. It affects all areas of our free society,” Haldenwang said.
Western authorities have suggested Russia may have also been behind an attempted assassination plot directed at the CEO of Germany’s Rheinmetall, a major manufacturer of weapons provided to Ukraine. Details of Russia’s alleged involvement in the incidents remain scarce. However, Russia has been accused of election interference and many other plots in the past, some of which turned out to be fake or overblown.
Those plots included the so-called “Russian collusion” hoax linked to President Donald J. Trump or allegations of Russian interference in the 2016 Brexit referendum.
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