Russia tied to plot to send dangerous DHL shipments from Amsterdam to U.S., Canada
A Ukrainian man living in the Netherlands unknowingly helped test a smuggling route for potentially incendiary packages sent to the United States and Canada last year, Dutch prosecutors stated. Authorities believe the operation, which used DHL shipments from Amsterdam, was part of a larger Russian sabotage effort, NOS reported.
The two packages, containing only clothing, were sent from a DHL point on Van Baerlestraat in Amsterdam and were intercepted at Schiphol Airport before they left the country. According to the Dutch Public Prosecution Service (OM), the shipments were likely dry runs for a broader campaign to smuggle flammable materials via air freight.
"We suspect these two packages served as a test to later send flammable contents through the same route," said Corjan Kroon, head of the OM’s recently established Team State Interference. He said it is "highly likely" that the Russian intelligence service was behind the assignment.
The Ukrainian man, 44, and a 35-year-old Dutchman from eastern Netherlands were arrested in March and initially charged with preparing a terrorist act. The OM has since dropped those charges, saying both men were unaware of the larger purpose of their actions.
On the morning of August 14, 2024, the Ukrainian man reportedly responded to an ad posted in a Russian-language Telegram channel known for short-term job offers. The ad sought someone to assemble and send a package in Amsterdam that same day. In a private chat, he was instructed to buy two boxes and fill them with low-cost clothing: five T-shirts, four pairs of socks, and two pairs of shoes, European size 40–43. He purchased the items at a Primark store in Hilversum.
The man received detailed instructions, including taking photos of the contents and the shipping labels. Payment would be made in cryptocurrency, worth between 500 and 600 euros. A Dutch man with a car helped transport him to Amsterdam to complete the job.
The two packages were addressed to charities—one in Ottawa, Canada, and another in a suburb of Washington, D.C. The shipments were flagged at Schiphol after a tip from U.S. customs authorities. It is unclear how U.S. officials identified the suspicious parcels.
What reportedly raised further alarms was that the shipping cost was double the value of the clothing inside. According to the OM, this pattern matched the tactics seen in other suspect DHL packages sent across Europe last summer.
In summer 2024, multiple European cities received suspicious DHL shipments. Four of them contained flammable substances. One ignited at a Birmingham depot, another at Leipzig Airport, and a third at a logistics firm in Warsaw. A fourth package in Warsaw failed to ignite. Authorities have expressed deep concern that such a package could ignite mid-flight, potentially causing a plane crash.
The Polish Public Prosecutor’s Office has told Dutch news program NOS Nieuwsuur that it holds five Ukrainian nationals and one Russian responsible for those incidents. They are accused of working for the Russian military intelligence agency GRU and face possible life sentences.
According to The Guardian, the same group tested the air freight route to North America by sending clothing packages to Washington and Ottawa in early August 2024.
Prosecutors have not been able to identify the individual behind the Amsterdam assignments. But they say the method closely resembles previous sabotage attempts attributed to Russian intelligence. Kroon emphasized the troubling ease with which people were recruited.
"It is disturbing how easily people can be enticed by money to take on these kinds of jobs," he told NOS. "It may seem small, but it's part of a larger plan and operation by the Russian secret service, with serious consequences."
The Dutch National Coordinator for Counterterrorism and Security (NCTV) echoed those concerns last week in its new threat assessment for the Netherlands. The agency warned that Russia is recruiting "low-level agents" in Europe to carry out acts of sabotage as part of a hybrid warfare strategy. These operatives, often inexperienced, are typically motivated by money and sometimes also by ideological sympathy for Russia.
