The British, Lithuanian and Latvian police have detained several people suspected of spying for Russia in recent days, TASR writes, according to AP report.
The British police announced on Thursday that the east of London had been detained by three people suspected of such espionage. The Lithuanian Prosecutor’s Office has already informed on Wednesday that it revealed and detained a network of suspects connected to Russia, planning arson attacks in various European countries. In the meantime, the Latvian secret service also announced that it had detained a man suspected of supplied secret information about its army and military buildings.
Razie in County Essex
The British police detained two men aged 41 and 46 and a 35-year-old woman in two places in the Essex Countess; Later she released them on bail.
The Lithuanian General Prosecutor’s Office informed about the case of persons suspected of sending packages containing home -made explosive facilities to EU countries and Britain through courier services. According to Russia’s planning and implementation of such arson on behalf of Russia, there are 15 persons, according to the local authorities of the suspected citizens, namely the citizens of Russia, Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia and Ukraine. An international arrest warrant was issued on three, but it is not yet clear how many were detained.
Inflatable packages
According to the Lithuanian Prosecutor General and the Lithuanian Criminal Police Office, the Lithuanian citizen A.Š. 19 July 2024 from the headquarters of DHL and DPD in Vilnius. They contained incendiary devices that were hidden in massage pillows and cosmetic tubes and filled with termite – a highly flammable substance used in industry and army.
Two packages were sent by air to the United Kingdom and two ground to Poland. One facility exploded 20 July at the airport in Leipzig, Germany before loading to the continuing cost of DHL. Another exploded on July 21 in a DPD truck in Poland and the third exploded 22 July in the DHL warehouse in Birmingham, England. The fourth package did not ignite due to technical failure.
Unsuccessful attacks in Lithuania
Two of the detainees, according to the Lithuanian Prosecutor’s Office, are also involved in an unsuccessful arson attack on the IKEA department store in the capital Vilnius from 9 May 2024. One of them is a Ukrainian who is also married to the Russian while the other is Lithuanian-Russian citizenship.
The case is addressed by a joint investigative team coordinated by the European Union Agency for Judicial Cooperation in Criminal Matters (Eurojust) with the participation of police and intelligence services from Lithuania, Poland, the United Kingdom, Germany, the Netherlands, Latvia, Estonia, USA and Canada.
EUROJUST Investigation
In the investigation, more than 30 seats were searched in Lithuania, Poland, Latvia and Estonia, and other incendiary facilities were found. Authorities suspect that they should have been used to plan and carry further attacks.
The Latvian Secret Service announced on Wednesday that it had detained a man of the suspect that he gathered information on Latvian military buildings as well as the deployment of NATO forces and exercises in this Baltic country and supplied them to Russian secret services.
