Poland arrests four in Russian bomb plot targeting US, allies in civilian air freight

Poland arrested four people in an alleged Russian bomb plot aimed at testing security for Western air freight companies, according to the Polish National Prosecutor’s Office.

The arrests follow a series of fires caused by incendiary devices that exploded in Poland, Germany and the U.K., the latter two of which happened at warehouses for DHL, the U.S. air freight company.

“The group’s activities consisted of sabotage and diversion related to sending parcels containing camouflaged explosives and dangerous materials via courier companies to European Union countries and Great Britain, which spontaneously ignited or detonated during land and air transport,” the Polish government prosecutor said in a statement.

“The group’s goal was also to test the transfer channel for such parcels, which were ultimately to be sent to the United States of America and Canada.”

Two others wanted by Poland in the incident are still at large, the statement noted.

The allegations, if true, would mark a dangerous escalation against Western allies that are providing material and logistical support to Ukraine in its war against the over two-year Russian invasion and annexation of large swaths of the country.  

Details of the investigation were published in the Wall Street Journal.  

Anonymous European sources told the Washington Post it’s unclear if the sabotage plots were directed by the Kremlin or if they were simply run by lower levels of the Russian security apparatus. 

One of the sources called the plot “relatively unsophisticated,” a statement seemingly at odds with devices that actually exploded.   

A spokesman for Russian President Vladimir Putin, Dmitry Peskov, denied the allegations of planting bombs, according to Russia’s official Tass news agency. 

“We have never heard any official accusations,” Peskov told the Wall Street Journal. “These are traditional unsubstantiated insinuations from the media.” 

The allegations against Russia come five months after NATO and European Union officials warned of “hybrid operations” by Russian intelligence aimed at “democratic institutions, government entities and critical infrastructure providers across the European Union and beyond.” 

In May, NATO warned of sabotage, acts of violence, cyber and electronic interference and disinformation campaigns by Russia against NATO allies and European member states.  

The head of MI5, the U.K.’s intelligence agency, last month accused Russia’s military intelligence network, known as GRU, of carrying out “arson, sabotage” in Britain once the U.K. supported Ukraine resistance to the Russian invasion, reported the BBC.  

Recently, Russia has upped the ante even higher, spreading the conflict to Asia potentially, by mobilizing up to 10,000 North Korean troops in Russia’s Kursk area, as Russia and Ukraine battle for the Russian territory invaded by Ukraine as a part of a counter offensive, as reported previously by The Lion.  

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov warned Western officials that it’s NATO and Western Europe that is waging a hybrid war against Russia.  

“Without the help of Western specialists, without space intelligence data, which the Ukrainians, of course, do not have, without specialists in programming flight missions, these [Ukrainian] troops cannot use missile technology,” Lavrov said via the state-controlled Interfax news agency. 

“Therefore, Western military personnel have been working in Ukraine for a long time. This is part of the hybrid war of NATO and the European Union against our country. We know this very well.”  

Air freight company DHL said it was aware of the incidents, reported multiple media outlets.  

The FBI and the White House have so far refused to comment on the story.