Court hears call to delete messages in DHL parcel case
Wednesday 7th October 2026 on 14:45 in
Lithuania
A Vilnius court heard a recording in which one man urged another to delete their messages during the trial over incendiary parcels, LRT reported. The court also viewed video footage showing a shipment taken from a warehouse catching fire.
In the recording, one man tells another that border guards have appeared on his street. The second man then tells him to delete all their messages.
The trial is due to resume on October 14. Five men are charged: Aleksandras Šuranovas, Daniilas Jencius, Vasilijus Kovačas, Vadymas Borsukas and Eldar Salmanovas. They are citizens of Ukraine, Lithuania and Russia, and all have pleaded not guilty.
The men are accused of organising and planning terrorist acts in different countries as part of an organised terrorist group. Investigators say that on July 19, 2024, a Lithuanian citizen and accomplices sent four parcels containing homemade explosive-incendiary devices from Vilnius using DHL and DPD delivery services. Two were sent to the United Kingdom by DHL cargo aircraft, and two to Poland by DPD trucks.
One parcel detonated and caught fire at Leipzig Airport early on July 20, shortly before it was due to be loaded onto a DHL cargo flight to the United Kingdom via Leipzig. Another caught fire overnight on July 21 in a DPD truck travelling through Poland. A parcel that reached the United Kingdom caught fire at a DHL warehouse in Birmingham about a day later. The fourth did not ignite because of a device malfunction and was seized by officers.
The indictment says the devices were concealed in parcels containing shoulder massagers and personal care products. Officials say the men on trial in Vilnius were operatives and intermediaries, while the alleged organisers are in Russia and beyond reach. The investigation determined that the Russian military’s Main Intelligence Directorate organised the crimes.
The case was separated from a wider investigation by Lithuania’s Criminal Police Bureau, which has identified at least 16 people of various nationalities suspected of organising, planning or helping carry out terrorist crimes in different countries. Investigators say people from Russia, Latvia, Estonia, Lithuania and Ukraine were recruited for individual tasks, often through personal contacts or Telegram, and offered payment in cryptocurrency.