Western
security officials reportedly said they believe Russia is
plotting to plant explosives aboard either commercial or passenger airplanes
bound for the United States and Canada.
Two incendiary devices were shipped using the German logistics company DHL and
ignited at DHL logistics hubs in Leipzig, Germany, and in Birmingham, England,
in July, sparking a multinational investigation, according to the Wall Street Journal.
Security officials and sources familiar with the investigation told the
Journal that intelligence agencies in Europe determined the explosions were
caused by electric massagers implanted with a magnesium-based flammable
substance.
Those officials say the electric massagers, sent to
the United Kingdom from Lithuania, were intended as a "test run" of a
wider Russian sabotage plot meant to evaluate how best to get explosives on
board aircraft headed to North America.