Vilnius court begins reading evidence in DHL incendiary parcel trial

A Vilnius court began reading documents, interview records and other material on Wednesday in the trial over incendiary parcels sent through DHL and DPD, LRT reported.

Five men are charged: Aleksandr Shuranov, Daniil Yentsius, Vasily Kovac, Vadym Borsuk and Eldar Salmanov. They are citizens of Ukraine, Lithuania and Russia. Prosecutors accuse them of organising and planning terrorist acts in different countries as members of an organised terrorist group. They were arrested in Lithuania and other countries. All five deny the charges.

Investigators say that on July 19, 2024, a Lithuanian citizen working with accomplices used DHL and DPD international delivery services to send four parcels from Vilnius containing homemade explosive-incendiary devices. Two were addressed to the United Kingdom and sent by DHL cargo aircraft; the other two were sent to Poland in DPD trucks.

The first parcel, triggered by a pre-programmed electronic timer, detonated and caught fire at Leipzig Airport early on July 20, shortly before it was due to be loaded onto a DHL cargo plane on a connecting flight from Vilnius via Leipzig to the United Kingdom. A second parcel caught fire overnight on July 21 in a DPD truck travelling through Poland. The parcel that reached the United Kingdom caught fire about a day later at a DHL warehouse in Birmingham. The fourth parcel, transported by DPD truck, did not ignite because of a device malfunction and was intercepted by authorities.

The indictment says the devices were concealed in parcels containing back massagers and personal care products. Examination of the intercepted parcel revealed the devices’ mechanism and the danger they posed.

Officials say the defendants on trial in Vilnius were operatives and intermediaries, while the organisers are in Russia and beyond reach. Investigators identified the Russian Armed Forces’ Main Intelligence Directorate as having organised the crimes.

The case was separated from a broader investigation by the Lithuanian Criminal Police Bureau. Investigators have identified at least 16 citizens of various countries who allegedly organised, planned or assisted in terrorist crimes in several countries. According to the investigation, Russian, Latvian, Estonian, Lithuanian and Ukrainian citizens were recruited for individual tasks, often people in socially vulnerable situations. They were approached through personal contacts or recruited and contacted through Telegram, offered payment and paid in cryptocurrency.