UK, Lithuania and Latvia detain people over allegations of arson and
spying for Russia
[September 19, 2025]
By EMMA BURROWS
VILNIUS, Lithuania (AP) — British, Lithuanian and Latvian authorities
have detained several people on suspicion of carrying out
intelligence-related activities on behalf of Russia in the latest of a
string of incidents to be linked to Moscow by Western officials.
London's Metropolitan Police force said Thursday that they arrested
three people just east of London on suspicion of spying for Russia. On
Wednesday, Lithuanian prosecutors said that they uncovered and detained
a Russia-linked network of suspects who are alleged to have planned and
organized arson attacks in various European countries. Meanwhile,
Latvia's security service said it detained a man suspected of passing
intelligence about the military to Russia.
British police said they arrested two men, ages 41 and 46, and a
35-year-old woman in the county of Essex. They searched two addresses
and later released the suspects on bail.
Lithuania's prosecutor general office said that suspects in a separate
case 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 security officials 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 80
incidents linked to Russia that The Associated Press has documented
since Moscow’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine on Feb. 24, 2022.
They include at least 18 incidents of espionage and 18 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.
Dominic Murphy, head of the Counter Terrorism Command at the
Metropolitan Police, said that the U.K. is seeing an “increasing number
of who we would describe as ‘proxies’ being recruited by foreign
intelligence services.”
In July, British men recruited online by Russian intelligence were found
guilty of setting fire to a warehouse containing supplies for Ukraine —
part of a growing trend where Russia's security services hire people
through messaging platforms such as Telegram.
Packages contained thermite
Lithuanian authorities said a total of 15 people — citizens of Russia,
Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia and Ukraine — are suspected of organizing and
carrying out the alleged arson attacks. Their statement said an
international arrest warrant has been issued for three people, but
didn't make clear if and how many people had been arrested.
The investigation found that the packages contained thermite — a highly
explosive substance used for industrial and military purposes.
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An DHL airplane reflects in the water during the opening of the new
sorting center at its European DHL Express air freight hub in
Schkeuditz near Leipzig, Germany, Oct. 12, 2016. (AP Photo/Jens
Meyer, File)
Prosecutors say the packages were sent by a Lithuanian citizen on
July, 19 2024. 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 20, 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 22 at a DHL warehouse in the city of Birmingham, England.
In Poland, a shipment caught fire on a DPD freight truck on July 21,
while another DPD shipment didn't ignite because of a technical
failure, which prevented the explosive device from detonating.
The Lithuanian prosecutor general's office said that two of the
people detained were also involved in an arson attack on an IKEA
store in the capital, Vilnius, on May 9, 2024. It said 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 investigation team
During the investigation, more than 30 searches were carried out in
Lithuania, Poland, Latvia, and Estonia, during which further
incendiary devices were found. The authorities suspect that the
devices could have been used to plan and carry out further attacks.
Lithuanian authorities said that because of the “extremely
dangerous” acts, a joint investigation team 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 Security Service said that 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 statement, it said the man provided Russian intelligence with
information about NATO troops based in the country, training
exercises and the construction of “new military objects."
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Kirsten Grieshaber in Berlin, and Pan Pylas in London, contributed
to this report.
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