{"id":546665,"date":"2026-05-29T14:35:11","date_gmt":"2026-05-29T11:35:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/reform.news\/?p=546665"},"modified":"2026-05-29T14:41:16","modified_gmt":"2026-05-29T11:41:16","slug":"lithuania-disrupts-major-belarusian-cigarette-smuggling-route-using-weather-balloons-three-detained","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/reform.news\/en\/lithuania-disrupts-major-belarusian-cigarette-smuggling-route-using-weather-balloons-three-detained","title":{"rendered":"Lithuania Disrupts Major Belarusian Cigarette Smuggling Route Using Weather Balloons, Three Detained"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"fb-root\"><\/div>\n<p>Lithuanian police have dismantled an organised scheme for smuggling cigarettes bearing Belarusian excise stamps in the \u0160al\u010dininkai District. The cigarettes were transported across the border using weather balloons.<\/p>\n<p>On May 19, officers discovered two vehicles prepared in advance to transport the illicit cargo and 24 boxes of contraband cigarettes in a forest near the village of Naujasodis. Two suspects were detained at the scene. A third initially fled but later surrendered to police after realising that his identity had been established.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\"  id=\"_ytid_31664\"  width=\"480\" height=\"270\"  data-origwidth=\"480\" data-origheight=\"270\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/dfx_rOxJ9ZQ?enablejsapi=1&#038;autoplay=0&#038;cc_load_policy=0&#038;cc_lang_pref=ru&#038;iv_load_policy=1&#038;loop=0&#038;rel=0&#038;fs=0&#038;playsinline=1&#038;autohide=2&#038;theme=dark&#038;color=red&#038;controls=1&#038;disablekb=0&#038;\" class=\"__youtube_prefs__  epyt-is-override  no-lazyload\" title=\"YouTube player\"  allow=\"fullscreen; accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen data-no-lazy=\"1\" data-skipgform_ajax_framebjll=\"\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>During searches, investigators seized 24 boxes containing 12,000 packs of NZ cigarettes with an estimated value of about \u20ac65,000, including Lithuanian taxes. GPS devices, signal-jamming equipment, binoculars, a night-vision device, computers, mobile phones and cash were also confiscated.<\/p>\n<p>A court ordered all three suspects to be held in custody for three months. They face up to eight years in prison. The investigation is being conducted by the Vilnius District Prosecutor\u2019s Office, the Vilnius County Police Headquarters <a href=\"https:\/\/vilnius.policija.lrv.lt\/lt\/naujienos\/salcininku-rajone-uzkardytas-stambus-kontrabandos-kanalas-sulaikyti-trys-asmenys-cigaretes-gabentos-meteorologiniais-balionais-video-Pw6Q\/\">said<\/a>.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_546654\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-546654\" style=\"width: 1200px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><a href=\"https:\/\/reform.news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/0ehiuj8_dme.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-546654 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/reform.news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/0ehiuj8_dme.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1200\" height=\"800\" srcset=\"https:\/\/reform.news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/0ehiuj8_dme.jpg 1200w, https:\/\/reform.news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/0ehiuj8_dme-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/reform.news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/0ehiuj8_dme-768x512.jpg 768w, https:\/\/reform.news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/0ehiuj8_dme-600x400.jpg 600w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1200px) 100vw, 1200px\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-546654\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Photo: vilnius.policija.lrv.lt<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<figure id=\"attachment_546658\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-546658\" style=\"width: 1200px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><a href=\"https:\/\/reform.news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/s9sz65ruhzm.jpg__2280x1520_q85_alias-newshudge_crop-smart_subsampling-2_upscale.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-546658 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/reform.news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/s9sz65ruhzm.jpg__2280x1520_q85_alias-newshudge_crop-smart_subsampling-2_upscale.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1200\" height=\"800\" srcset=\"https:\/\/reform.news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/s9sz65ruhzm.jpg__2280x1520_q85_alias-newshudge_crop-smart_subsampling-2_upscale.jpg 1200w, https:\/\/reform.news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/s9sz65ruhzm.jpg__2280x1520_q85_alias-newshudge_crop-smart_subsampling-2_upscale-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/reform.news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/s9sz65ruhzm.jpg__2280x1520_q85_alias-newshudge_crop-smart_subsampling-2_upscale-768x512.jpg 768w, https:\/\/reform.news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/s9sz65ruhzm.jpg__2280x1520_q85_alias-newshudge_crop-smart_subsampling-2_upscale-600x400.jpg 600w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1200px) 100vw, 1200px\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-546658\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Photo: vilnius.policija.lrv.lt<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<figure id=\"attachment_546657\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-546657\" style=\"width: 1200px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><a href=\"https:\/\/reform.news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/pxecbylfbi0.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-546657 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/reform.news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/pxecbylfbi0.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1200\" height=\"800\" srcset=\"https:\/\/reform.news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/pxecbylfbi0.jpg 1200w, https:\/\/reform.news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/pxecbylfbi0-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/reform.news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/pxecbylfbi0-768x512.jpg 768w, https:\/\/reform.news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/pxecbylfbi0-600x400.jpg 600w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1200px) 100vw, 1200px\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-546657\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Photo: vilnius.policija.lrv.lt<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<figure id=\"attachment_546656\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-546656\" style=\"width: 1200px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><a href=\"https:\/\/reform.news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/llf5raaypzs.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-546656 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/reform.news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/llf5raaypzs.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1200\" height=\"800\" srcset=\"https:\/\/reform.news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/llf5raaypzs.jpg 1200w, https:\/\/reform.news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/llf5raaypzs-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/reform.news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/llf5raaypzs-768x512.jpg 768w, https:\/\/reform.news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/llf5raaypzs-600x400.jpg 600w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1200px) 100vw, 1200px\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-546656\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Photo: vilnius.policija.lrv.lt<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Lithuanian police have dismantled an organised scheme for smuggling cigarettes bearing Belarusian excise stamps in the \u0160al\u010dininkai District. The cigarettes were transported across the border using weather balloons. On May 19, officers discovered two vehicles prepared in advance to transport the illicit cargo and 24 boxes of contraband cigarettes in a forest near the village [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":119,"featured_media":546664,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_sharing_image":{"poster":"https:\/\/reform.news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/6a197b608ed74.jpg","width":1200,"height":630,"template":"691142dd","mode":"auto"},"_sharing_image_fieldset":{"dTVKfmI95PYT":"Lithuania Disrupts Major Belarusian Cigarette Smuggling Route Using Weather Balloons, Three Detained"},"footnotes":""},"categories":[142338,143094],"tags":[143118,143247,143120],"class_list":["post-546665","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","category-incident","tag-belarus","tag-kontrabanda-sigaret","tag-meteozondy"],"wps_subtitle":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/reform.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/546665","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\/119"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/reform.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=546665"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/reform.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/546665\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/reform.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/546664"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/reform.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=546665"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/reform.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=546665"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/reform.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=546665"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}