Russian intelligence operatives are believed to be using guns for hire, often from the Baltic states, to carry out sabotage attacks in the West, including the fire at a Birmingham depot of DHL. Counter-terrorism officers are investigating whether criminal proxies were tasked to plant the incendiary device on a plane to Britain before it later caught fire. Similar sabotage attacks around Europe, including one that could have brought down a German plane, are thought to have been masterminded by Russia’s GRU intelligence agency. Its spies are accused of using apps such as Telegram to hire citizens from the Baltics to carry out vandalism and set fires. Police believe that this was the most likely method used in the Birmingham incident, although it is unclear where
