September 6, Pozirk. Lithuanian customs officers seized 6.9 million packs of smuggled cigarettes worth more than €9.7 million, including mandatory taxes, in January–June.
According to the service, officers opened 32 investigations into smuggling.
The Russian border accounted for 77 percent of the seizures, and the Belarusian border accounted for 16 percent.
A year earlier, 82 percent of seized packs had Belarusian excise stamps. Now, 84 percent of packs do not have them.
Officers seized the largest batch on June 18: 520,000 Marlboro packs without excise stamps worth €2.4 million.
Earlier, the Lithuanian State Border Guard Service noted that smugglers have preferred “driverless” transportation of cigarettes recently.
Since the beginning of the year, the service has documented at least 20 launches of weather balloons carrying contraband, after registering zero such cases in 2022 and three in 2023.
Lithuanian meteorologists said these balloons require expertise and favorable weather.
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