Ukrainian letter bomb plot thwarted
Russia's Federal Security Service (FSB) has said that its operatives have prevented a series of Ukrainian terrorist attacks as letter bombs have been discovered, intended for Russian servicemen and state employees.
During a check of postal items at an airport in the city of Chelyabinsk in Russia's Ural region, five parcels containing improvised explosive devices (IEDs) camouflaged as perfume gift sets were discovered, the agency said in a statement on Thursday.
The bombs were armed to detonate upon receipt, it read.
A Russian citizen in his early 20s, who mailed the perfume sets, was later detained in the town of Pervouralsk in Yekaterinburg Region, it said.
Earlier this month, the suspect, who had been recruited by the Ukrainian intelligence services via a messaging app, was ordered by his handlers to retrieved the parcels with explosives from caches in Chelyabinsk and send them via Russian Post to military personnel and government employees in Moscow and Voronezh as well as in Krasnodar and Saratov Regions, the FSB said.
According to the agency, the young man had been promised $6,000 for completing the task. However, once the perfume sets were mailed, the Ukrainian spies ceased all contact with him.During the inspection of one of the cache sites in Chelyabinsk, another cache was discovered, containing four similar IEDs intended for delivery to servicemen residing in Tver, Rostov, Nizhny Novgorod and Kaluga Regions, it said.
Russia's Investigative Committee has launched a criminal case against the suspect for obtaining and transporting illegal explosive devices, and some officials want to charge him with terrorism, the FSB stressed.
Investigative activities are underway to establish the identities of those who manufactured the bombs and placed them in the chases, it added.
'Considering the active sabotage and terrorist activities carried out by the Ukrainian intelligence services… the FSB reminds about the need to remain vigilant and refrain from receiving parcels and gifts from unknown senders,' the agency said.
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