Lithuania suspects Russia after incendiary devices in parcels

Last year's incendiary devices in parcels were apparently coordinated from Russia. Lithuania reported 15 arrests.

Lithuania has charged 15 suspects with "terrorist offenses" in connection with parcel fires in Europe last year. The Vilnius prosecutor's office said Wednesday that the suspects used the shipping companies DHL and DPD to ship four parcels containing explosives concealed in cosmetic containers from the Lithuanian capital to various European countries, including Germany, Poland , and the United Kingdom .

In a statement, the prosecutor's office said the crimes were "organized and coordinated by citizens of the Russian Federation associated with the military intelligence services of the Russian Federation."

Last summer, packages containing incendiary devices appeared in warehouses of the logistics company DHL in Leipzig and Birmingham, UK, where they caught fire. In Poland, a package also set a DHL truck on fire. Following the fire in Leipzig, the Federal Prosecutor's Office launched an investigation. According to the then President of the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution, Thomas Haldenwang , the burning package could have caused a plane crash.

A fourth explosive device failed to explode, the Lithuanian prosecutor's office stated. They added that this is an international investigation. The defendants are Russian, Lithuanian, Latvian, Estonian, and Ukrainian citizens. It was initially unclear how many of them are in custody.