US media reported on Monday (November 4) that Western intelligence officials had linked Russia to a covert flight sabotage operation, involving a plot to start fires on planes using incendiary devices. The Wall Street Journal reported, citing officials, that the operation specifically targets passenger and cargo flights to the United States and Canada.

The development comes after device explosions were reported at two logistics centers of DHL, the global logistics leader. An investigation has been launched following explosions in Leipzig, Germany, and Birmingham, UK.

According to officials, the shipment of explosives to the DHL UK center came from Lithuania. The shipment contained electric massagers implanted with a flammable magnesium-based substance.

The WSJ reported that the devices “appear to have been a test of how to install such incendiary devices aboard planes bound for North America.”

Russia vehemently rejected the allegations, calling them “baseless insinuations by the media.” “We have never heard any official accusations,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said.

However, a senior US official later admitted there was no “active threat” targeting US-bound flights, during an interview with CNN.

In October, Poland arrested at least four people suspected of being part of the sabotage group. At the same time, the search for two other suspects was launched internationally.

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In a statement, the Polish government said “parcels containing camouflaged explosives and dangerous materials” had been sent by mail to the United Kingdom and European Union countries and “spontaneously ignited or exploded during the land and air transport.

He added that the purpose of this exercise was to “test the transfer channel for these types of shipments that were ultimately to be sent to the United States of America and Canada.”

(With contribution from agencies)