Sixteen people have been named as suspects in Lithuania’s investigation into a series of attempted terrorist attacks involving incendiary devices shipped through the DHL and DPD delivery networks, the country’s prosecutor general said Tuesday. One suspect has been detained in Estonia as Lithuania waits for his extradition.
“Sixteen individuals currently have suspect status, and the court has approved the detention of nine of them. We are awaiting the execution of a European arrest warrant in Estonia, where one person has been detained,” Prosecutor General Nida Grunskienė told reporters.
She said the suspect held in Estonia is expected to be handed over to Lithuania “in the near future”, although authorities have not yet confirmed whether Estonia has formally agreed to the transfer.
Grunskienė declined to say whether those detained in Lithuania are citizens of the country.
In September, Lithuanian authorities announced they had uncovered a group that had organised and planned four terrorist attacks in different European countries. At the time, 15 suspects – citizens of Russia, Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia and Ukraine – were accused of organising a terrorist group and carrying out terrorist acts.
Investigators say that on July 19, 2024, Lithuanian citizen Aleksandras Šuranovas, born in 1973, working with accomplices, used DHL and DPD shipping services to send four parcels containing homemade explosive-incendiary devices from Vilnius to several European destinations.
Two packages shipped via DHL ignited last July, one at Leipzig Airport before cargo loading and another at a company warehouse in Birmingham, England. Of the two sent via DPD, one ignited in a company truck in Poland, while the second failed to explode when its detonator burned out.
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According to prosecutors, the crimes were organised and coordinated by Russian nationals with ties to Russian military intelligence.
More than 30 searches were carried out in Lithuania, Poland, Latvia, and Estonia during the investigation. Police seized explosive materials hidden inside canned food containers, along with detonators.
To coordinate the case, a joint investigation team was set up through Eurojust, involving authorities from Lithuania, Poland, the United Kingdom, Germany, the Netherlands, Latvia, Estonia, the United States, and Canada.
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