{"id":162080,"date":"2025-10-29T14:02:08","date_gmt":"2025-10-29T11:02:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/news\/162080\/"},"modified":"2026-03-09T20:10:49","modified_gmt":"2026-03-09T20:10:49","slug":"lithuania-arrests-four-in-connection-with-balloons-from-belarus","status":"publish","type":"articles","link":"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/news\/162080\/","title":{"rendered":"Lithuania arrests four in connection with balloons from Belarus"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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October 29, Pozirk<\/em>.<\/strong> Lithuania has detained four people in connection with a recent influx of balloons carrying smuggled cigarettes from Belarus, the Baltic country\u2019s Prosecutor General Nida Grunskien\u0117, said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

LRT<\/em> quoted her as saying that the detainees were taken into custody for two months.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Grunskien\u0117 said that 21 pre-trial investigations were launched into the use of balloons for transporting contraband cigarettes this year, and 50 suspects were identified.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Officials documented more than 500 incidents of cigarette smuggling by weather balloons in the first nine months of 2025, she added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to her, 16 cases were referred to court, and 12 have already been tried. Eighteen people have been found guilty and ordered to pay fines totaling more than \u20ac111,000.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Judges have sentenced several people to a year and five months in prison, the top prosecutor said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe clearly have results. And when it comes to statistics, seized cigarette packs \u2026<\/strong> in nine months totaled more than 730,000. The total value of the discovered and seized cigarettes is \u20ac3.553 million,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Grunskien\u0117 noted that the Lithuanian Criminal Code doesn\u2019t define \u201chybrid warfare,\u201d which, however, does not mean that officials are not collecting evidence. Vilnius is following several leads to prove that the smuggling is an \u201corganized activity.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Incursions by cigarette-smuggling balloons from Belarus constitute elements of hybrid attacks on Lithuania and aim to destabilize the country, Lithuanian President Gitanas Naus\u0117da told journalists a day earlier.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The president\u2019s comments came hours after the Belarusian ruler dismissed Lithuania\u2019s accusations as absurd.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In Belarus, organizing large-scale balloon launches to a neighboring country without the authorities\u2019 knowledge is impossible, Naus\u0117da argued.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt is therefore quite obvious that special services \u2014 the Committee of State Security (KGB) \u2014 are involved in the sale of tobacco products, some of which are official and some destined for the illegal market, generating substantial profits from each smuggled pack of cigarettes,\u201d the president said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

About a quarter of cigarettes sold in Lithuania are contraband, with smugglers earning up to \u20ac4 per pack, he said, accusing Minsk of promoting these practices to support and finance \u0141uka\u0161enka\u2019s regime.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe will definitely not tolerate the launch of balloons, and the Lithuanian military is ready to shoot them down,\u201d Naus\u0117da noted.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Yesterday, Vilnius closed the border crossings in Medininkai and \u0160al\u010dininkai \u2014 the only two checkpoints still handling all cross-border traffic between Lithuania and Belarus \u2014 citing an influx of cigarette-smuggling balloons. In 2023, Lithuania closed the \u0160umskas and Tvere\u010dius crossings, followed by Lavori\u0161k\u0117s and Raigardas in 2024, over national security and smuggling concerns.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u0141uka\u0161enka denounced Lithuania\u2019s closure of border checkpoints as \u201ca crazy gamble.\u201d He advised Lithuania to deal with the issue domestically: \u201cIf small balloons carrying cigarettes or something else are flying there, I believe the problem should be solved within their territory. Because they don\u2019t just fly to nowhere. Someone receives them, and someone profits. They need to identify and root out these schemes.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Cigarette smuggling remains a lucrative illegal trade: while legally sold cigarettes are of higher quality, they cost three to four times more in Lithuania than those produced in Belarus.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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