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Russia's GRU Suspected of Plotting to Send Incendiary Devices on U.S.-Bound Planes via DHL

Nov 4, 2024, 05:28 PM

Western security officials suspect that Russia's GRU intelligence agency orchestrated a covert operation to send incendiary devices on U.S.-bound planes, aiming to start fires aboard cargo or passenger aircraft flying to the U.S. and Canada. The devices were disguised as electric massagers packed with magnesium and shipped via DHL. They ignited at DHL hubs in Leipzig, Germany, and Birmingham, England, in July, leading to arrests of four individuals. Officials consider the incidents a test run to determine how to smuggle such devices onto aircraft, marking an escalation in Moscow's sabotage campaign against the West.