Western security officials believe Russia is behind a covert operation that aimed to ignite fires on cargo or passenger planes flying to the United States and Canada. The plot, allegedly part of Moscow’s escalating sabotage campaign against Washington and its allies, involved two incendiary devices shipped via DHL that ignited at logistics hubs in Leipzig, Germany, and Birmingham, England, in July, the Wall Street Journal reported, citing sources familiar with the investigation.

The devices, which were hidden inside electric massagers filled with a magnesium-based flammable substance, sparked a multinational investigation. European investigators and intelligence agencies have now concluded that the incendiary devices were part of a Russian test run to determine if similar devices could reach North America undetected.

The plot appears to have been orchestrated by Russia’s military-intelligence agency, known as the GRU, according to Pawel Szota, head of Poland’s foreign-intelligence agency. “If one of these packages had exploded, causing mass casualties, it would represent a major escalation in Moscow’s campaign against the West,” Szota warned. Polish authorities have already arrested four individuals in connection with the fires and are collaborating with European law enforcement to track down additional suspects.

According to Poland’s National Prosecutor’s Office, the group aimed to test a route for sending incendiary devices to the U.S. and Canada. Although officials did not directly attribute the plot to Russia, Szota and other Western intelligence leaders have pointed to Russian involvement.

The Kremlin denied any knowledge of the plot, with spokesman Dmitry Peskov dismissing the accusations as “unsubstantiated insinuations.”

The DHL fires have intensified concerns among Western intelligence agencies over Russia’s growing sabotage activities across Europe. Authorities allege that Russia has been involved in a string of destructive acts, including arson in the U.K. and Czech Republic, attacks on pipelines and data cables in the Baltic Sea, and tampering with water supplies in Sweden and Finland.

High-level intelligence warnings about Russia’s increasingly reckless actions came in the wake of the DHL incidents. Richard Moore, head of the U.K.’s MI6, and Ken McCallum, head of MI5, have both publicly criticized Russia’s escalating operations. McCallum warned that Russia was orchestrating “arson, sabotage, and more dangerous actions,” while Moore remarked that Russian spy agencies had “gone a bit feral in some of their behavior.”

German investigators who tested replicas of the incendiary devices noted that the magnesium-based fires would be challenging to extinguish with conventional airplane firefighting systems. A similar device on a plane mid-flight could have forced an emergency landing or, in the worst-case scenario, led to a catastrophic crash over open water.

Although no arrests have been made in the U.K., German police described the lack of casualties as a “lucky coincidence” due to a delayed flight. DHL, which transports packages using both cargo and passenger aircraft, confirmed its cooperation with authorities in the investigation.

The U.S. Transportation Security Administration (TSA) has implemented additional security measures for air cargo in response to the alleged plot. The TSA stated that it regularly works with both domestic and international carriers to enhance security, though it declined to comment directly on the plot.

The potential threat of Russian sabotage targeting commercial aircraft marks a concerning new phase in Moscow’s campaign against the West, raising questions about how far Russia’s intelligence agencies are willing to go—and whether they have full Kremlin authorization.

(YWN World Headquarters – NYC)