Parcel bombs sent to Heathrow, London City Airport and other UK addresses on March 5 could be linked to those sent five years ago to army careers offices, detectives have said.
Another parcel was sent to London’s Waterloo station, one was recovered at the University of Glasgow the next day, and a fifth was found after being returned to a postal depot in Limerick, Ireland.
The IRA claimed responsibility for the packages, which all contained ‘small, improvised explosive devices’, according to police.
The BBC said police have now formally linked the packages to seven letter bombs sent to army recruitment centres in 2014.
Forensic experts have found similarities between the devices and the methods used.
No injuries were caused by any of the packages. The first of the most recent packages, delivered to Heathrow, caught fire when it was opened at the Compass Centre. The packages sent to London City and Waterloo station weren’t opened.
Police said that the packages – white postal bags containing yellow Jiffy bags – were ‘not designed to kill’.
They are looking for any postal workers who may remember handling the packages between March 1 and 22. "You may have information that could help us with our investigation and it would also help with our forensic inquiries to be able to eliminate anyone who may have innocently come into contact with any of the five parcels after they were posted," said a police spokesman.
