U.S. and European law enforcement are working together to determine whether incendiary devices that exploded in July at DHL logistics centers in Germany and the United Kingdom were part of a larger operation led by Russian intelligence services (specifically the GRU – Russian military intelligence), the highest level of the Russian government or by external individuals acting in Russia’s interests, a source familiar with the matter said.
Authorities are working to determine whether the larger-scale operation involved placing similar devices on planes serving the United States and its allies. The Wall Street Journal was the first to report the alleged plot targeting U.S. planes.
The 2025 Domestic Threat Assessment released in late October states that the United States continues to be concerned about threats to the airline and air cargo systems, including “the potential use of the supplying air cargo to ship dangerous and potentially deadly concealed items.”
DHL said in a statement that it was aware of “two recent incidents involving shipments in our network. We are fully cooperating with the relevant authorities to protect our people, our network and our customers’ shipments.”
“We continually adjust our security posture as appropriate and promptly share all relevant information with our industry partners, to include requirements and recommendations that help them reduce risk,” the Transportation Security Administration said in a statement.
“Over the past several months, as part of a multi-layered security approach, TSA has worked with industry partners to implement additional security measures for U.S. aircraft operators and foreign air carriers regarding certain cargo shipments destined to the United States, in accordance with the 2021 TSA Air Cargo Security Roadmap,” the TSA statement continued.
The FBI declined to comment.
contributed to this report.
