Lithuanian law enforcement officials have refused to comment on German media reports about a person who was detained in Lithuania on charges of sending out self-igniting parcels.
The original report of the arrest appeared in Der Spiegel last week, saying that it remained unclear who had ordered the relevant attacks.
A spokeswoman for the Lithuanian Prosecutor General’s Office, Elena Martinoniene, told BNS on Friday that she had no new information about the matter.
“Prosecutor Arturas Urbelis has said that the investigation is ongoing and involves international co-operation,” said the spokeswoman, adding that no further details about the investigation would be forthcoming.
“This is a matter of national security, and so no information can be disclosed,” she declared.
Lithuania’s State Security Department also had no comment on the matter, saying only that the probe is being supervised by the Prosecutor General’s Office and that it is has “exclusive discretion” on whether or not information should be disclosed about the process.
Germany’s domestic intelligence chief Thomas Haldenwang revealed the fact on Monday that a parcel had burst into flames on the ground at Leipzig Airport in July as it was being loaded onto a DHL cargo plane.
A similar incident occurred at a DHL warehouse near Birmingham in the UK in July. The fire was extinguished by warehouse staff and firefighters. No injuries were reported in either incident.
Lithuania’s public broadcaster LRT cited a source as saying that household appliances with incendiary devices were shipped from Lithuania to the United Kingdom and Germany via DHL.
Haldenwang blamed the incident in Leipzig on “Russian espionage and sabotage” which, he said, is expanding as Moscow attempts to create chaos in those Western countries which are supporting Ukraine.
The Guardian, meanwhile, has reported that UK anti-terrorism police are investigating whether Russian spies were involved in the shipment of the device which caught fire in Birmingham. The paper added that no one has been arrested in connection with the incident.
Source: BNS
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