{"id":163595,"date":"2025-11-10T21:07:07","date_gmt":"2025-11-10T18:07:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/news\/163595\/"},"modified":"2026-02-24T20:40:57","modified_gmt":"2026-02-24T20:40:57","slug":"poland-says-balloons-used-to-fly-in-contraband-from-belarus","status":"publish","type":"articles","link":"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/news\/163595\/","title":{"rendered":"Poland says balloons fly in contraband cigarettes from Belarus"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><strong>November 10, <em>Pozirk.<\/em> <\/strong>According to the Polish Border Guard, more than 6,000 packs of illegal cigarettes were seized after a series of smuggling attempts using weather balloons to send contraband goods across the border.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>On Monday, the Podlaski border unit <a href=\"https:\/\/podlaski.strazgraniczna.pl\/pod\/aktualnosci\/68941,Balony-z-papierosami-na-polskim-niebie.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">reported <\/a>that two men, a 48-year-old Pole and a 29-year-old Belarusian, were arrested near Kowale while trying to collect a package containing 1,500 packs of untaxed cigarettes. Officers also found a weather balloon at the site.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Near Klim\u00f3wka, officers discovered another batch of 3,000 packs attached to two balloons. In a separate incident, authorities in Nowy Dw\u00f3r seized a smaller package containing some 1,500 packs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The Border Guard said the total cargo exceeded 6,000 packs of various brands, with an estimated value of more than 100,000 zlotys (over $27,000). \u201cActivities to identify the remaining individuals involved in sending and receiving illegal shipments are underway,\u201d the unit said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The report comes two weeks after Lithuania closed all border crossings with Belarus after cigarette-smuggling balloons disrupted the operation of Vilnius Airport.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"insert-block\">\n\n    <div class=\"insert-block__img\">\n        <img decoding=\"async\" width=\"354\" height=\"236\" src=\"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/sigarety_polska_straz-1-354x236.jpg\" class=\"attachment-medium size-medium\" alt=\"\" srcset=\"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/sigarety_polska_straz-1-354x236.jpg 354w, https:\/\/pozirk.online\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/sigarety_polska_straz-1-734x490.jpg 734w, https:\/\/pozirk.online\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/sigarety_polska_straz-1-178x118.jpg 178w, https:\/\/pozirk.online\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/sigarety_polska_straz-1-768x512.jpg 768w, https:\/\/pozirk.online\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/sigarety_polska_straz-1.jpg 1500w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 354px) 100vw, 354px\" \/>                        <label class=\"insert-block__tag--mobile\"> \u042d\u043a\u043e\u043d\u043e\u043c\u0438\u043a\u0430<\/label>\n\n                <\/div>\n    <div class=\"insert-block__text\">\n                    <label class=\"insert-block__tag\">\u042d\u043a\u043e\u043d\u043e\u043c\u0438\u043a\u0430<\/label>\n                <h3 class=\"insert-block__title\">Polish border guards arrest three Belarusians on suspicion of cigarette smuggling<\/h3>\n        <div class=\"insert-block__descr\">October 21, Pozirk. The Podlaski border unit has reported detaining four people\u2014three Belarusians and a Ukrainian\u2014for allegedly smuggling a batch of 1,500 contraband cigarettes by car. The detainees were charged with criminal offenses. In all, border guards seized 185,000 zlotys &#8230;<\/div>\n        <a class=\"insert-block__btn-block\" href=\"\/en\/news\/160918\">\n            <button class=\"btn\">\n                <div class='btn__text'>Read the article<\/div>\n            <\/button>\n        <\/a>\n    <\/div>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>November 10, Pozirk. According to the Polish Border Guard, more than 6,000 packs of illegal cigarettes were seized after a series of smuggling attempts using weather balloons to send contraband goods across the border. On Monday, the Podlaski border unit reported that two men, a 48-year-old Pole and a 29-year-old Belarusian, were arrested near Kowale [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":75,"featured_media":163581,"template":"","rubric":[30,13],"class_list":["post-163595","articles","type-articles","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","rubric-security","rubric-society"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v25.5 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Poland says balloons fly in contraband cigarettes from Belarus | Pozirk<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"November 10, Pozirk. According to the Polish Border Guard, more than 6,000 packs of illegal cigarettes were seized after a series of smuggling attempts\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/news\/163595\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Poland says balloons fly in contraband cigarettes from Belarus | Pozirk\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"November 10, Pozirk. According to the Polish Border Guard, more than 6,000 packs of illegal cigarettes were seized after a series of smuggling attempts\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/news\/163595\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Pozirk\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/pozirkonline\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-02-24T20:40:57+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/15-333814.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"911\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"607\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@Pozirk_online\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"NewsArticle\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/news\/163595\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/news\/163595\/\"},\"headline\":\"Poland says balloons fly in contraband cigarettes from Belarus\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-11-10T18:07:07+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-02-24T20:40:57+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/news\/163595\/\"},\"wordCount\":172,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/news\/163595\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/15-333814.jpg\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/news\/163595\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/news\/163595\/\",\"name\":\"Poland says balloons fly in contraband cigarettes from Belarus | Pozirk\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/news\/163595\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/news\/163595\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/15-333814.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-11-10T18:07:07+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-02-24T20:40:57+00:00\",\"description\":\"November 10, Pozirk. 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