Smugglers put hexogen inside Church items in an attempt to get them into Russia, the agency said Source: FSB Public Affairs Centre
The explosives hidden inside Orthodox holy images and other Church items, which were seized on the border with Latvia, would have been enough to bring down a five-story apartment block, Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) has said. The deadly cargo originated from Ukraine and was being transferred to Moscow, according to the agency.
Earlier on Tuesday, the FSB announced that four homemade bombs, 10kg of high-industrial plastic explosives, 91 electronic detonators, and parts of an RPG-7 warhead were discovered inside a shipment of Church goods during a vehicle check at the Ubylinka crossing between Russia and Latvia. The cargo had traveled from Ukraine through several EU nations – Romania, Hungary, Slovakia, Poland, Lithuania and Latvia – before arriving at the border, according to the agency.
Later in the day, the FSB released a video showing an explosives expert opening up the casings of the ‘icons’ and revealing a white substance inside them. Judging by the footage, the seized shipment contained several hundred holy images and multiple other items.
“Hexogen, a plastic explosive of increased power, was found inside the icons,” Dmitry Belotserkovsky, head of the Interior Ministry’s forensic center in Pskov Region, said. Hexogen, also known as RDX, is 1.5 times more powerful than TNT, he added.
The amount of the seized explosives was “enough to blow up a five-story residential block,” the official stressed.