The head of Lithuania’s National Crisis Management Center, Vilmantas Vitkauskas, described today’s incursion of smugglers’ weather balloons as the most intensive so far this year.
“It is important to note that this night was probably the most intensive of the entire year — we recorded a total of 42 cases on our radars,” LRT quoted him as saying.
Earlier, Vilnius Airport suspended operations due to air balloons. According to Vitkauskas, by morning eight balloons had been found, four people had been detained, and the remains of several weather balloons had also been discovered.
He stressed that the services are working intensively to identify the smugglers. Vitkauskas did not rule out that the smugglers had stepped up their activity not without the knowledge of the Belarusian side. He noted that this year radar detections of weather balloons have already been recorded six times.
“Of course, these were not numbers like last night. They were perhaps ten or twenty cases — a truly small number that did not affect the security of our airspace at all. But this night was exceptional, and the airport was closed,” he said.