Lithuanian prosecutors have charged five men in a terrorism investigation involving incendiary devices sent through parcel delivery companies, officials said Friday, adding that the case has been referred to court.
“After collecting sufficient evidence regarding criminal acts committed by several individuals, a decision was made to separate the pretrial investigation regarding five defendants and transfer the case to court for trial,” Deputy Prosecutor General Artūras Urbelis told a news conference.
“In this case, charges have been brought against five people – all of them men,” he said.
According to Urbelis, two of the defendants are Ukrainian citizens, while the others hold Lithuanian, Russian, and dual Russian-Lithuanian citizenship. The suspects range in age from 23 to 69.
Data from Eurojust indicates investigators identified a total of 22 individuals believed to have acted in the interests of Russian intelligence services.
Saulius Briginas, deputy head of the Lithuanian Criminal Police Bureau, said five other suspects are currently on trial in Poland, while another five have been placed on international wanted lists.
“Last September we announced the search for three individuals. Two of them are also linked to another high-profile investigation involving an attempted arson attack on an Ikea store in Lithuania,” Briginas said.
He added that authorities issued international arrest warrants for two additional suspects on Friday.
According to investigators, four parcels were sent from Lithuania in July 2024 to the United Kingdom and Poland through delivery companies DHL and DPD.
The parcels were transported by air to a sorting centre in Germany, where they were distributed for further delivery. One caught fire at Leipzig/Halle Airport shortly before being loaded onto an aircraft. Another ignited in a warehouse in the United Kingdom.
A third parcel caught fire in a truck transporting it in Poland, while the fourth was intercepted before it ignited. Investigators were able to examine the device inside, determine how it worked and assess the level of danger it posed.
Investigators also determined that two test parcels had been sent to the United States and Canada, while two more similar shipments intended for those countries were discovered in Amsterdam.
According to Eurojust, suspects were recruited through online messaging platforms. Tasks were divided among participants so that some individuals would not know the true purpose of their actions. Payments for completed tasks were often made in cryptocurrency.
Most of the identified suspects are believed to be individuals living in Russia, Latvia, Estonia, Lithuania and Ukraine who faced difficult social and economic conditions, investigators said.
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