Polish authorities discovered four weather balloons carrying loads of smuggled cigarettes without Polish excise stamps in Podlaskie Voivodeship, which borders Belarus. Police seized more than 30,000 packs of cigarettes in total, Wirtualna Polska reports.
The first balloon was found in the morning in Jaświły. It landed on the roof of the municipal administration building, and the load attached to it contained about 15,000 packs of cigarettes. Three more weather balloons were discovered shortly afterward. One became entangled in a power line in Zygmunty, another fell in a field in Jabłonka Kościelna, while the fourth was found in Tajno Podjeziorne at around 11:00 a.m.
According to Podlaskie police spokesman Tomasz Krupa, the balloons were among the largest objects of this type to have entered Polish territory. Some of them consisted of several balloon envelopes.
Police cordoned off the sites where the balloons were found. Bomb disposal experts also worked at the locations to check the loads for hazardous materials.
