Lithuanian police do not rule out sabotage in DHL plane crash

Lithuanian law enforcement officials do not rule out Russia’s involvement in the downing of a DHL Boeing 737-400 cargo plane in Vilnius on the morning of November 25.

The plane crashed into a two-story residential building near the Vilnius airport. One of the four people on board was reported dead. The other three crew members were hospitalized.

A senior Lithuanian law enforcement official stated that terrorism “cannot be ruled out” amid growing fears of Russian covert operations across the European continent, POLITICO reports.

According to a spokesperson for Lithuania’s National Crisis Management Centre, the cause of the crash is being investigated as related to “technical problems.”

Lithuanian police chief Arūnas Paulauskas also said the crash was “most likely due to a technical fault or human error” but added that terrorism “cannot be ruled out.”

“This is one of the versions of the crash that will be investigated and checked. There is a lot of work to be done. Gathering evidence may take all week, there will be no quick answers,” Paulauskas said.

Mindaugas Pivorūnas, CEO of DHL Lithuania, told public service broadcaster LRT that the cause of the Boeing 737-476(SF) accident was unclear.

Lithuanian President Gitanas Nausėda noted that sabotage involving Russian special services should not be ruled out during the investigation of the Vilnius plane crash.

“It should be recognized that Russia’s actions and destructive behavior will probably now force almost every plane crash to be viewed primarily through this prism, that is, the possible intervention of Russian special services… Such is the state of Russia that its role in disasters of this magnitude will have to be considered in almost every case,” the Lithuanian President added.

Attempted terrorist attacks

The Wall Street Journal, citing Western intelligence agencies, reported in early November that Russians had attempted to commit terrorist attacks on civilian aircraft using small incendiary devices sent via DHL.

The result was fires on airplanes en route to the United States and Canada.

In July, fires broke out at DHL’s logistics centers in Germany and the United Kingdom due to special devices in parcels. Investigators and intelligence agencies in Europe discovered that the devices, which contained a flammable magnesium-based substance, were built into electric massagers.