{"id":545380,"date":"2026-05-25T23:54:22","date_gmt":"2026-05-25T20:54:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/reform.news\/?p=545380"},"modified":"2026-05-26T09:29:45","modified_gmt":"2026-05-26T06:29:45","slug":"lithuanian-border-guards-intercept-smugglers-drone-on-border-with-belarus","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/reform.news\/en\/lithuanian-border-guards-intercept-smugglers-drone-on-border-with-belarus","title":{"rendered":"Lithuanian Border Guards Intercept Smugglers\u2019 Drone on Border With Belarus"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Lithuanian border guards reported intercepting a homemade aircraft that crossed into the country from Belarus in the \u0160al\u010dininkai District. According to Lithuania\u2019s State Border Guard Service (VSAT), the device is believed to have been used by smugglers.<\/p>\n

The incident occurred on Saturday evening. Officers from the Purv\u0117nai border post of the Var\u0117na Border District of the VSAT received a request from the Lithuanian Air Force regarding a possible drone spotted in the airspace between the settlements of Purv\u0117nai, Ei\u0161i\u0161k\u0117s, and Mantvili\u0161k\u0117s in the \u0160al\u010dininkai District.<\/p>\n

Soon afterward, operators of surveillance systems noticed an object flying toward the state border. After border guards used drone-jamming equipment, the aircraft changed direction and began moving toward the Ei\u0161i\u0161k\u0117s border checkpoint.<\/p>\n

A group of border guards was dispatched to the presumed landing area. Several minutes later, VSAT officers again used anti-drone equipment, after which the aircraft crashed near the village of Dumbl\u0117.<\/p>\n

During an inspection of the area about 500 meters from the state border, border guards discovered a homemade unmanned aircraft without cargo. The device sustained serious damage in the crash.<\/p>\n

After an additional inspection of the area, the drone was taken to the Purv\u0117nai border post.<\/p>\n

According to the VSAT, Lithuanian border guards have already intercepted 18 smugglers\u2019 drones in the first incomplete five months of 2026. In 2025, a total of 59 drones arriving from Belarus were intercepted throughout the year. In 2024, Lithuanian services intercepted 54 aircraft carrying Belarusian cigarettes.<\/p>\n

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Lithuanian border guards reported intercepting a homemade aircraft that crossed into the country from Belarus in the \u0160al\u010dininkai District. According to Lithuania\u2019s State Border Guard Service (VSAT), the device is believed to have been used by smugglers. The incident occurred on Saturday evening. Officers from the Purv\u0117nai border post of the Var\u0117na Border District of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":545379,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_sharing_image":{"poster":"https:\/\/reform.news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/6a153ddd42fff.jpg","width":1200,"height":630,"template":"691142dd","mode":"auto"},"_sharing_image_fieldset":{"dTVKfmI95PYT":"Lithuanian Border Guards Intercept Smugglers\u2019 Drone on Border With Belarus"},"footnotes":""},"categories":[142338,143284,143094],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-545380","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","category-world","category-incident"],"wps_subtitle":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/reform.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/545380","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=545380"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/reform.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/545380\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/reform.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/545379"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/reform.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=545380"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/reform.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=545380"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/reform.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=545380"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}