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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
National
Dan Sabbagh Defence and security editor

Incendiary device plot targeting UK may have been dry run for US and Canada

A DHL plane close to the ground at dusk
The device hidden in a DHL package in Leipzig was believed to have been capable of downing a plane. Photograph: Agencja Fotograficzna Caro/Alamy

An incendiary device hidden in a DHL package that caught fire in Germany in July was due to be sent by air to the UK as part of a suspected Russian sabotage plot that may also have been a dry run for a similar attack on the US and Canada.

The device, reported to have been secreted in shipments of massage pillows and erotic gadgets, started a fire on the ground in Leipzig that was feared to be capable of downing a plane – similar to a package that ignited at a DHL warehouse in Birmingham on 22 July.

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