By Indrė Makaraitytė, LRT Investigation Team, LRT.lt.

A planned Russian military intelligence operation to send parcel bombs through international shipping companies was delayed after a recruited Lithuanian courier became lost in a newly built apartment complex in Vilnius, according to a months-long investigation by an international team of journalists.

This article is a summary of a more extensive story available in Lithuanian

The explosives, hidden in massage pillows, sex toys and cosmetic tubes filled with nitromethane, were meant to detonate in Germany, the United Kingdom and Poland in late June 2024. But the plot failed when the courier, Lithuanian citizen Aleksandras Šuranovas, could not locate a rented Airbnb apartment where the devices were stored.

The bombs were later deactivated, averting casualties in the Vilnius complex, which stands next to the TwinsBet Arena.

The operation was relaunched a month later. In July 2024, explosive parcels sent via DHL ignited at Leipzig Airport in Germany and at a DHL warehouse in Birmingham, UK. A separate package sent through DPD caught fire in a Polish warehouse near Warsaw. A fourth package was intercepted by Polish security services.

Read more: LRT.LT