Скриншот эфира ОНТ
Belarus’s Ministry of Internal Affairs has announced that it uncovered a drug trafficking route from Poland to Russia via Belarusian territory. Details of the operation were presented in a report broadcast by the state television channel ONT.
According to the report, Belarus was used solely as a transit route, while the final destination for the drugs was Russia. During the operation, police detained 66-year-old Belarusian citizen Valery Smalenski from Lepel, who allegedly attempted to transport around 60 kilograms of synthetic psychotropic substances and 320 bricks of hashish. The Interior Ministry estimated the street value of the shipment at approximately $4 million.
The report says the man had “lived in Europe” before spending ten years in Moscow, where he worked as a taxi driver. He allegedly accepted an offer from an acquaintance in Lithuania named Gediminas to transport illegal drugs. He was reportedly provided with a car equipped with a specially constructed hidden compartment designed to conceal narcotics. According to the report, the suspect collected the shipment in a forest in Belarus before being detained by police officers. Others who were present in the forest were also arrested.
The report further claims that the drugs were delivered across the Belarusian border using weather balloons. One of the balloons was allegedly discovered in the Hrodna district by a watchman at a fish farm. It reportedly contained 326 bricks of hashish, GPS trackers, and a SIM card belonging to a Lithuanian mobile operator. An Audi with Russian license plates was allegedly waiting nearby.
The report says that several individuals found in the area, who had previous convictions related to drug trafficking offenses, were detained.
According to the broadcast, the drugs are manufactured in clandestine laboratories in Poland and transported across the border by Lithuanian citizens using weather balloons. Couriers then allegedly deliver the drugs to Russia.
“Our law enforcement officers dug deeper and discovered that the drugs come from Poland. But they are sent not by Poles, but by Lithuanians. Moreover, they use a method that has already become quite familiar. They would wait for up to a year, travel to the neighboring country to catch favorable winds, attach the drugs to weather balloons together with a GPS tracker and a mobile phone to monitor the route, and send the package to the Belarusian side. Their associates would receive the shipment, while people like Valery were supposed to transport the drugs to Russia. The cargo consisted mainly of synthetic drugs. During the investigation, it became clear that only cheap, deadly substances were being supplied to the Russian market. The operation was organized in a manner unusual for the drug trade: bargain prices, discounts, and unprecedented special offers. They were willing to pay any amount for transportation, as long as the drugs reached their destination,” the report said.
The ONT broadcast also claimed that “the production of drugs is supervised by the Ukrainian and Polish intelligence services” and that Lithuanian citizens are involved in transporting them. The report provided no evidence to support these allegations.
“According to operational information currently available, several laboratories producing the inexpensive synthetic drug known as 4-CMC are operating in Poland. The drug production process is supervised by the Ukrainian and Polish intelligence services. The laboratories are guarded by armed individuals from among the Ukrainian military. The operation of the laboratories, the production of the drugs, and their subsequent transportation cannot take place without the knowledge of representatives of the law enforcement agencies and intelligence services of the foreign state,” the report claimed.
The authors further alleged that representatives of Western security agencies “are directly involved in this illegal business,” citing recent arrests of police officers and border guards in Lithuania and accusing neighboring countries of waging a “hybrid war” against Belarus and Russia.