Officers of the Nadbużański Border Guard Unit have intercepted a cigarette-smuggling operation in which tobacco products were transported across the border using a weather balloon. A 32-year-old Belarusian citizen and a 38-year-old Polish citizen have been detained in the case.
A passenger car carrying the two men was stopped for inspection near Biała Podlaska. Several bags containing Belarusian-made cigarettes worth more than 100,000 zlotys were found in the boot. According to the Border Guard, the cargo had been brought from Belarus by a weather balloon to which the smugglers had attached packages of tobacco products.
Both men were detained. They face charges for smuggling tobacco products, as well as for conducting a flight with an aircraft in violation of the air-traffic rules in force in the area. The offences are punishable by a fine and up to five years in prison. In addition, the Belarusian citizen was ordered to leave Poland and issued a five-year ban on entering the Schengen Area.
Since the beginning of the year, the Nadbużański Border Guard Unit has recorded more than 50 attempts to move cigarettes across the border using weather balloons. The total value of the seized goods has approached one million zlotys.
In total this year, officers of the unit have stopped smuggled shipments of tobacco products and alcohol worth more than 30 million zlotys.
