A joint investigation team of German, Lithuanian, Dutch, Polish and UK authorities, set up under the coordination of Eurojust has been crucial in exposing the operation behind several attacks carried out across Europe involving self-igniting parcels. Authorities joined forces when several parcels ignited in Germany, Poland and the United Kingdom, causing damages for the postal services transporting the packages. The cooperative efforts led to the identification of 22 suspects in Lithuania and Poland who are suspected of having been working on behalf of the military-intelligence service of the Russian Federation. Two cases have now been sent to courts in Lithuania and Poland, with trials expected to happen later in the year.
In July 2024, four parcels were sent from Lithuania to addresses in the United Kingdom and Poland. One of the parcels, that was sent through a sorting centre in Germany, caught fire at Leipzig airport, shortly before it was loaded onto an aircraft. Another parcel caught fire while in a warehouse in the UK. In Poland, one package caught fire in a truck. The second parcel was seized by authorities while it was still intact, enabling the analysis of the device and its damage potential. The investigation also identified two ‘test packages’ that had been sent to the United States and Canada, as well as two parcels in Amsterdam intended for the same destinations. These are also suspected to have been test packages.
Due to the potential harm of the packages and the risk of future incidents, cooperation between authorities across Europe was crucial. Eurojust set up and funded a joint investigation team comprising of authorities from Germany, Lithuania, Poland, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom to support the ongoing investigations and to prevent similar incidents in the future. Europol provided operational support to the countries involved.
The cooperation exposed the operation behind the self-igniting parcels. Prospective perpetrators were recruited and given instructions through an online messaging service. The tasks were divided among several alleged perpetrators and payments for the acts were often made in cryptocurrencies.
The suspected perpetrators were recruited from Russia, Latvia, Estonia, Lithuania and Ukraine and were often in a vulnerable socio-economic situation. It is suspected that the acts carried out by these suspects were executed on behalf of the military-intelligence service of the Russian Federation.
Authorities came together several times at Eurojust to coordinate the ongoing investigations, detect links to other arson incidents and prepare the cases to be brought to trial in Poland and Lithuania. Currently, 22 suspects have been identified in both countries and two cases have now been sent to the courts. It is expected that the trials of the suspects will start later this year. Eurojust continues to be involved in the investigations into these illegal acts allegedly happening across Europe by foreign intelligence services. The Agency is finding links to other investigations of similar acts and coordinating the cooperation between the countries involved.
The actions were carried out by the following authorities:
- Germany: Federal Prosecutor General’s Office; Federal Criminal Police Office
- Lithuania: Prosecutor General’s Office; Criminal Police Bureau
- Netherlands: National Police of the Netherlands; National Prosecution Office of the Netherlands
- Poland: Mazovian Branch of the Organised Crime and Corruption Department of the National Prosecutor's Office in Warsaw; Internal Security Agency
- United Kingdom: Counter Terrorism Policing London and Crown Prosecution Service
Eurojust is an agency of the European Union