Фото: Straż Granicznа
Border guards from the Polish Border Guard’s Podlaskie unit reported the detention of six Lithuanian and Belarusian citizens on suspicion of cigarette smuggling.
According to the statement, one Belarusian citizen was detained by officers at the Kuźnica border post. His car contained 11,000 packs of cigarettes that had been brought across the border using weather balloons.
In the Zawady municipality, four Lithuanian citizens and one Belarusian citizen were detained. Their car boot contained 14,000 packs of cigarettes that had also been flown into Poland using smugglers’ balloons.
A court ordered all six men to be held in custody for three months. They have been charged with smuggling.
Since the beginning of the year, 46 people suspected of involvement in balloon-based smuggling from Belarus have been detained in the Podlaskie Voivodeship.