Фото: vsat.lrv.lt
Lithuania’s State Border Guard Service (VSAT) has detained six more people suspected of involvement in cigarette smuggling using balloons from Belarus.
All of them are residents of the Šalčininkai and Varėna districts. They were detained on Tuesday in the Varėna and Kaišiadorys districts, as well as in Šalčininkai. In total, 28 people have been detained since the beginning of the year.
At the same time, three shipments of airborne contraband — 13,500 packs of cigarettes — were intercepted. Five vehicles were also seized. A court ordered pre-trial detention for five of the suspects for periods ranging from one to two months, while a decision regarding the sixth suspect was expected later in the day and had not yet been announced.
Since the beginning of the year, Lithuanian border guards have intercepted 57 shipments of contraband delivered by balloons — 29 in January, 24 in February and 4 in March. Nearly 160,000 packs of cigarettes have already accumulated in border warehouses. For comparison, a total of 635 such shipments were intercepted in 2025 and 226 in 2024, while no such cases were recorded in 2022.
After the tightening of security along the land border with Belarus, smugglers have largely switched to airborne delivery methods — in 2025 more than four-fifths of the cigarettes were attempted to be smuggled by air using balloons or drones. Similar cases have also been recorded in Poland and Latvia.