Smugglers Return to Old Methods in Lithuania — Throwing Cigarettes Across the Border

Lithuanian border guards detained 1,300 packs of Belarusian cigarettes and a local resident who received the goods at the border.

Officers were on duty near the village of Senovė in the Varėna district when they noticed packages being thrown from Belarus into Lithuania. A border guard unit and a canine officer with a dog were dispatched to the scene.

The dog picked up the trail, and after some time officers caught up with a man carrying nine packages tied together. Inside were 1,300 packs of Belarusian cigarettes. Their value is estimated at nearly €7,000, the Lithuanian border service reported.

The man was detained. It emerged that over the past three years, the 27-year-old local resident had already been detained 13 times for cigarette smuggling. Administrative proceedings have been initiated against him.

In recent years, smugglers have typically used more advanced methods to deliver cigarettes, such as drones and weather balloons.