Army chief warns ‘our enemy doesn’t sleep’ amid fears of Putin terror plot in DHL plane crash after black box recovered
A LITHUANIAN army chief has warned "our enemy doesn't sleep" amid fears Russian sabotage caused a plane crash.
Secret service officials in Vilnius are probing whether the smash this morning that left one dead was terrorism.
Police are recovering black boxes from the burnt-out wreckage of a DHL cargo jet that smashed into a home in the Lithuanian capital this morning.
The Boeing 737 was approaching Vilnius Airport when hit the ground, skidded a few hundred metres and struck a house at around 5.30am local time (3.30am GMT).
Dramatic footage shows the jet explode into a huge ball of fire behind a building.
Photos show smoke billowing from the fiery wreck as emergency teams rushed to the scene.
More world news
A Spanish crew member on board was killed - with three others injured.
It has reignited fears of a Russian covert sabotage operation after a series of mysterious explosions at DHL warehouses in Europe - including in Leipzig, Germany and UK city Birmingham.
The DHL jet was travelling from Leipzig today when it crashed.
Lithuania's National Crisis Management Centre has deployed experts to investigate.
Authorities have refused to rule out terrorism as experts from the National Crisis Management Centre investigate.
Head of the centre Vilmantas Vitkauskas told LRT: "According to the initial version, the incident may be related to technical problems.
"However, it is too early to talk about anything more precise."
Raimundas Vaikšnoras, commander of Lithuania's army, said the military has "a lot of knowledge" about the crash - but would not comment.
He said there is speculation it could be part of a Russian sabotage plot as "our enemy does not sleep".
Vaikšnoras added: "We provide the necessary assistance, for example, to reverse the data, look at the navigation, where, what happened.
"But we probably need to wait when the black box is removed and then the aviation or disaster investigation committee will resolve everything.
"These provocations, such as GPS signal blocking, have happened before, and not only Lithuanian airlines or those flying from Lithuania complain.
"But maybe we should wait for the investigation."
It comes after Western governments pointed the finger at Moscow over a series of fires and acts of sabotage in Europe.
DHL-linked explosions across Europe
SECURITY officials fear Russia could be behind parcel explosions at depots in Europe as part of a plot to trigger explosions on cargo flights to the US.
Western governments believe Moscow could be behind a series of fires and acts of sabotage in Europe aimed at destabilising allies of Ukraine.
On July 22, a suspect package caught fire at a DHL depot in Minworth, Birmingham.
Also in July, fires broke out in a container due to be loaded onto a DHL cargo plane in the German city of Leipzig.
Meanwhile, a fire at a transport hub near Jablonow, near Warsaw, Poland took almost two hours to put out.
Polish police arrested four people - and claimed the suspected Russian arson attacks could have been a test run for future attacks on the US.
It is feared the fears were part of an orchestrated campaign organised by Russia's military intelligence agency, the GRU.
Moscow, which denies being behind acts of sabotage is suspected to have been behind other attacks on warehouses and railway networks in EU member states this year - including in Sweden and in the Czech Republic.
Western nations including the UK, Britain, and the US, have repeatedly accused Russia of trying to sabotage nations providing military and financial aid to Ukraine.
Western nations including the UK, Britain, and the US, have repeatedly accused Russia of trying to sabotage nations providing military and financial aid to Ukraine.
Sabre-rattling Vladimir Putin was suspected of planting a parcel bomb inside a package on a flight heading to the UK.
The US ramped up checks on parcels from Europe after a suspect package caught fire in a DHL depot in England in July.
The order was based on secret intelligence that pointed to deadly sabotage plans.
Flagship carrier United Airlines banned all mail weighing over 16oz following the “classified” order from the US government.
READ MORE SUN STORIES
The Wall Street Journal claimed explosives were concealed in "electric massagers implanted with a magnesium-based flammable substance" and "part of a wider Russian plot".
Four suspected saboteurs were arrested in Poland over the incident.
