Russia allegedly conspired to place incendiary devices on aircraft heading to U.S.

WSJ reported the information.

European and U.S. intelligence officials believe Russia is behind a plan that would ultimately place incendiary devices on planes to North America through air cargo shipments, according to people familiar with the matter.

The Wall Street Journal, citing European security officials, reports that the July bombings at the delivery service's logistics centers were caused by explosives planted in parcels with massagers. 

Russian agents were involved, hoping that the detonation of the parcels on board the planes would lead to the destruction of the aircraft. 

This version is currently being verified, but there is evidence to support its veracity.

Poland’s National Prosecutor’s Office has said in a statement on its website that it’s investigating the alleged involvement of a foreign intelligence service in sabotage activities on the territory of Poland and other European Union members states and the UK but didn’t specify Russia as the perpetrator.

Poland’s interior minister said the efforts fit Russia’s pattern.

“The year 2024 brought various acts of sabotage in Poland and other European countries,” Tomasz Siemoniak said Monday. “Our intelligence services and prosecutors have no doubt that Russian clients are behind this. The attempts to place explosives into courier shipments fit into the logic of Russian sabotage and do raise the threat up to a new level.”

Alexa Lopez, a spokeswoman for the U.S. Transportation Security Administration, said in a statement that “over the past several months, as part of a multilayered security approach, TSA worked with industry partners to put additional security measures for US aircraft operators and foreign air carriers regarding certain cargo shipments bound for the United States.”

Asked about the alleged Russian plot, a U.S. government official told CNN that “at this time, there is no current active threat targeting U.S.- bound flights.”

Polish authorities in October said four people had been arrested under suspicion of being involved in international sabotage and a sabotage group, according to a statement from the national prosecutor’s office. An international search has been initiated for two more suspects.

A UK counter-terrorism police spokesperson confirmed to CNN that they are “investigating an incident at a commercial premises in Midpoint Way” in Birmingham: “On Monday, 22 July, a package at the location caught alight. It was dealt with by staff and the local fire brigade at the time and there were no reports of any injuries or significant damage caused,” the spokesperson said.

The spokesperson added that the investigation is ongoing, and they are “liaising with other European law enforcement partners to identify whether this may or may not be connected to any other similar-type incidents across Europe.”

CNN reported in July that Russia has been engaged in a “bold” sabotage operation across NATO’s member states for more than six months, targeting the supply lines of weapons for Ukraine and the decision-makers behind it, according to a senior NATO official.

Multiple security officials across Europe describe a threat that is metastasizing as Russian agents, increasingly under scrutiny by security services and frustrated in their own operations, hire local amateurs to undertake high-risk, and often deniable, crimes on their behalf.