{"id":500417,"date":"2025-12-05T15:24:54","date_gmt":"2025-12-05T12:24:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/reform.news\/?p=500417"},"modified":"2025-12-06T11:28:26","modified_gmt":"2025-12-06T08:28:26","slug":"belarusian-detained-for-smuggling-cigarettes-using-a-weather-balloon-he-will-be-deported-from-poland","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/reform.news\/en\/belarusian-detained-for-smuggling-cigarettes-using-a-weather-balloon-he-will-be-deported-from-poland","title":{"rendered":"Belarusian Detained for Smuggling Cigarettes Using a Weather Balloon; He Will Be Deported From Poland"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"fb-root\"><\/div>\n<p>Officers of the Nadbu\u017ca\u0144ski Border Guard Unit have intercepted a cigarette-smuggling operation in which tobacco products were transported across the border using a weather balloon. A 32-year-old Belarusian citizen and a 38-year-old Polish citizen have been detained in the case.<\/p>\n<p>A passenger car carrying the two men was stopped for inspection near Bia\u0142a Podlaska. Several bags containing Belarusian-made cigarettes worth more than 100,000 zlotys were found in the boot. According to the Border Guard, the cargo had been brought from Belarus by a weather balloon to which the smugglers had attached packages of tobacco products.<\/p>\n<p>Both men were detained. They face charges for smuggling tobacco products, as well as for conducting a flight with an aircraft in violation of the air-traffic rules in force in the area. The offences are punishable by a fine and up to five years in prison. In addition, the Belarusian citizen was ordered to leave Poland and issued a five-year ban on entering the Schengen Area.<\/p>\n<p>Since the beginning of the year, the Nadbu\u017ca\u0144ski Border Guard Unit has recorded more than 50 attempts to move cigarettes across the border using weather balloons. The total value of the seized goods has approached one million zlotys.<\/p>\n<p>In total this year, officers of the unit have stopped smuggled shipments of tobacco products and alcohol worth more than 30 million zlotys.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_500297\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-500297\" style=\"width: 1200px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><a href=\"https:\/\/reform.news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/12-336166.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-500297 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/reform.news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/12-336166.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1200\" height=\"798\" srcset=\"https:\/\/reform.news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/12-336166.jpg 1200w, https:\/\/reform.news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/12-336166-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/reform.news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/12-336166-768x511.jpg 768w, https:\/\/reform.news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/12-336166-602x400.jpg 602w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1200px) 100vw, 1200px\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-500297\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">\u0424\u043e\u0442\u043e: nadbuzanski.strazgraniczna.pl<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<figure id=\"attachment_500298\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-500298\" style=\"width: 878px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><a href=\"https:\/\/reform.news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/12-336167.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-500298 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/reform.news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/12-336167.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"878\" height=\"1200\" srcset=\"https:\/\/reform.news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/12-336167.jpg 878w, https:\/\/reform.news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/12-336167-220x300.jpg 220w, https:\/\/reform.news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/12-336167-749x1024.jpg 749w, https:\/\/reform.news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/12-336167-768x1050.jpg 768w, https:\/\/reform.news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/12-336167-293x400.jpg 293w, https:\/\/reform.news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/12-336167-585x800.jpg 585w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 878px) 100vw, 878px\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-500298\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">\u0424\u043e\u0442\u043e: nadbuzanski.strazgraniczna.pl<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Officers of the Nadbu\u017ca\u0144ski Border Guard Unit have intercepted a cigarette-smuggling operation in which tobacco products were transported across the border using a weather balloon. A 32-year-old Belarusian citizen and a 38-year-old Polish citizen have been detained in the case. A passenger car carrying the two men was stopped for inspection near Bia\u0142a Podlaska. Several [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":500416,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_sharing_image":{"poster":"https:\/\/reform.news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/6933e92f3e52e.jpg","width":1200,"height":630,"template":"691142dd","mode":"auto"},"_sharing_image_fieldset":{"dTVKfmI95PYT":"Belarusian Detained for Smuggling Cigarettes Using a Weather Balloon; He Will Be Deported From Poland"},"footnotes":""},"categories":[142338],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-500417","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"acf":[],"wps_subtitle":"","permalink_manager":null,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/reform.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/500417","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/reform.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/reform.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/reform.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/reform.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=500417"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/reform.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/500417\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/reform.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/500416"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/reform.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=500417"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/reform.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=500417"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/reform.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=500417"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}