UK police make arrests for spying as Lithuanian prosecutors target Russia-linked arson network

VILNIUS Lithuania AP British Lithuanian and Latvian agents have detained people on suspicion of carrying out intelligence-related programs on behalf of Russia in the latest of a string of incidents to be linked to Moscow by Western personnel The Metropolitan Police commented Thursday they arrested three people just east of London on suspicion of spying for Russia On Wednesday Lithuanian prosecutors announced they uncovered and detained a Russia-linked system of defendants who are alleged to have planned and organized arson attacks in various European countries Meanwhile Latvia s assurance facility stated it detained a man suspected of passing intelligence about the military to Russia British police reported they arrested two men aged and and a -year-old woman in the county of Essex They searched two addresses and later circulated the defendants on bail Lithuania s prosecutor general office stated persons in a separate matter are accused of sending packages containing homemade explosive devices to other European Union countries and Britain via courier services on behalf of Russia s military intelligence services The highly flammable incendiary devices with timed detonators were hidden inside vibrating massage cushions and tubes of cosmetics European precaution representatives have previously warned that a widespread sabotage campaign blamed on Russia is growing more dangerous The alleged espionage and plots to use explosives are among around incidents linked to Russia that The Associated Press has documented since Moscow s invasion of Ukraine in February They include at least incidents of espionage and cases of arson or serious sabotage including attacks on restaurants warehouses and shopping centers as well as a plot to assassinate the CEO of a German arms company Highly explosive substance discovered in packages Lithuanian officers announced a total of people citizens of Russia Lithuania Latvia Estonia and Ukraine are suspected of organizing and carrying out the alleged arson attacks Their message stated an international arrest warrant has been issued for three people but did not make clear if and how multiple people had been arrested The examination identified that the packages contained thermite a highly explosive substance used for industrial and military purposes Prosecutors say the packages were posted by a Lithuanian citizen on July Two shipments were sent from Vilnius to the U K by DHL cargo planes and the other two were sent to Poland by DPD trucks One of them caught fire at the DHL logistics center in Leipzig on July just before it was loaded onto a DHL cargo plane to the U K Another shipment to Britain caught fire in the early hours of July at a DHL warehouse in the city of Birmingham In Poland a shipment caught fire in a DPD freight truck on July while another DPD shipment did not ignite due to a technical failure which prevented the explosive device from detonating The Lithuanian prosecutor general s office commented two of the people detained were also involved in an arson attack on an IKEA store in the capital Vilnius on May It stated one of the men is a Ukrainian citizen who also uses the identity of a Russian citizen while the other is a dual Lithuanian-Russian national Joint examination crew set up During the review more than searches were carried out in Lithuania Poland Latvia and Estonia during which further incendiary devices were detected The government suspect that the devices could have been used to plan and carry out further attacks Lithuanian functionaries declared because of the extremely dangerous acts a joint analysis unit was created with the cooperation of law enforcement and intelligence officers from nine countries including the U S and Canada Also on Wednesday the Latvian State Protection Operation explained it had detained a man on suspicion of collecting information about Latvian military sites and passing the information to Russia s intelligence services In a message it announced the man provided Russian intelligence with information about NATO troops based in the country training exercises and the construction of new military objects Associated Press journalists Kirsten Grieshaber in Berlin and Pan Pylas in London contributed to this account Source