{"id":165395,"date":"2025-11-24T12:39:25","date_gmt":"2025-11-24T09:39:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/news\/165395\/"},"modified":"2026-03-10T12:05:06","modified_gmt":"2026-03-10T12:05:06","slug":"latvia-seizes-weather-balloons-with-smuggled-belarusian-cigarettes","status":"publish","type":"articles","link":"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/news\/165395\/","title":{"rendered":"Latvia seizes weather balloons with smuggled Belarusian cigarettes"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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\n (Lithuanian State Border Guard Service)<\/span>\n <\/div>\n <\/figcaption>\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

November 24, Pozirk.<\/em><\/strong> Latvia intercepted seven weather balloons carrying contraband cigarettes from Belarus yesterday, Delfi<\/em> reports, citing Latvian Interior Minister Rihards Kozlovskis.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Each balloon was transporting 3,000 packs of smuggled cigarettes, he said. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Unlike in Lithuania, the incidents did not pose a serious threat to critical infrastructure in Latvia, as there is no airport near the border. However, the weight of the smuggled goods could still cause local damage, Kozlovskis noted.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Latvian law enforcers are working with their counterparts in Lithuania and Poland to exchange experience on how to prevent the incursions, the official added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Tensions between Belarus and Lithuania over cigarette-smuggling balloons have been rising since mid-October, forcing Lithuanian authorities to briefly close the border on several occasions and suspend operations at Vilnius Airport, located close to the Belarusian border.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Vilnius kept the Medininkai\u2013Kamienny \u0141oh and \u0160al\u010dininkai\u2013Bieniakoni checkpoints at the shared border with Belarus closed from October 29 to November 20 over the incursions. Last week, Lithuanian Prime Minister Inga Ruginien\u0117 said that Lithuania might close the border again.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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