{"id":180322,"date":"2026-03-20T18:27:45","date_gmt":"2026-03-20T15:27:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/news\/180322\/"},"modified":"2026-03-20T18:27:47","modified_gmt":"2026-03-20T15:27:47","slug":"belarus-police-arrest-five-real-thugs-in-cigarette-smuggling-case-lukasenka-says","status":"publish","type":"articles","link":"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/news\/180322\/","title":{"rendered":"Belarus&#8217; police arrest five \u201creal thugs\u201d in cigarette smuggling case, \u0141uka\u0161enka says"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><strong>March 20, <em>Pozirk.<\/em> <\/strong>Belarusian law enforcers arrested five persons suspected of being involved in illegal shipments of cigarettes abroad, Alaksandar \u0141uka\u0161enka has told the state-run media.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201c[Interior Minister Ivan] Kubrako\u016d reported to me on the completion of the operation,\u201d the politician\u2019s press office quoted him as saying. \u201c[The suspects] rented an empty house to store packs of cigarettes, a gas tank and weather balloons \u2013 everything for smuggling. The police have detained them. They are criminals who have been convicted multiple times. Real thugs.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The news comes a day after \u0141uka\u0161enka held talks with John Coale, US special envoy for Belarus, who negotiated the release of 250 jailed Belarusian dissidents and\u00a0raised Lithuania&#8217;s \u200cconcerns over cigarette smuggling and truck seizures.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&#8220;I think we&#8217;re getting great progress with that&#8221;, Coale told<em> Reuters<\/em> after the meeting. &#8220;I think that \u0141uka\u0161enka is in the mindset that these are not too important issues and they&#8217;re \u2060worth \u200bgiving up.&#8221;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Tensions between Belarus and Lithuania over cigarette-smuggling weather balloons have been rising since mid-October 2025, forcing Lithuanian authorities to temporarily close the border and suspend operations at Vilnius International Airport, located close to the Belarusian border.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Last December, Vilnius declared an \u201cextreme situation,\u201d a low-level emergency, in response to what it called \u201ca hybrid attack from Belarus.\u201d<\/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\/2024\/01\/pozirk_color_blank_1128x752-354x236.jpg\" class=\"attachment-medium size-medium\" alt=\"\" srcset=\"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/pozirk_color_blank_1128x752-354x236.jpg 354w, https:\/\/pozirk.online\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/pozirk_color_blank_1128x752-734x490.jpg 734w, https:\/\/pozirk.online\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/pozirk_color_blank_1128x752-178x118.jpg 178w, https:\/\/pozirk.online\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/pozirk_color_blank_1128x752-768x512.jpg 768w, https:\/\/pozirk.online\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/pozirk_color_blank_1128x752.jpg 1128w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 354px) 100vw, 354px\" \/>                        <label class=\"insert-block__tag--mobile\"> \u042d\u043a\u043e\u043d\u043e\u043c\u0438\u043a\u0430<\/label>\n\n                            <label class=\"insert-block__tag--mobile\"> \u041f\u043e\u043b\u0438\u0442\u0438\u043a\u0430<\/label>\n\n                            <label class=\"insert-block__tag--mobile\"> Security<\/label>\n\n                            <label class=\"insert-block__tag--mobile\"> \u041e\u0431\u0449\u0435\u0441\u0442\u0432\u043e<\/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, \u041f\u043e\u043b\u0438\u0442\u0438\u043a\u0430, Security, \u041e\u0431\u0449\u0435\u0441\u0442\u0432\u043e<\/label>\n                <h3 class=\"insert-block__title\">Lithuania intercepts seven air shipments of smuggled Belarusian cigarettes<\/h3>\n        <div class=\"insert-block__descr\">March 18, Pozirk. Border guards in southern Lithuania intercepted seven large consignments of cigarettes smuggled by air balloons from Belarus on March 17, the State Border Guard Service (SBGS) reported. One of the balloons was detected by officers using a &#8230;<\/div>\n        <a class=\"insert-block__btn-block\" href=\"\/en\/news\/179892\">\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>March 20, Pozirk. Belarusian law enforcers arrested five persons suspected of being involved in illegal shipments of cigarettes abroad, Alaksandar \u0141uka\u0161enka has told the state-run media. \u201c[Interior Minister Ivan] Kubrako\u016d reported to me on the completion of the operation,\u201d the politician\u2019s press office quoted him as saying. \u201c[The suspects] rented an empty house to store [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":63993,"template":"","rubric":[16,15],"class_list":["post-180322","articles","type-articles","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","rubric-politics","rubric-society"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v25.5 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Belarus&#039; police arrest five \u201creal thugs\u201d in cigarette smuggling case, \u0141uka\u0161enka says | Pozirk<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"March 20, Pozirk. Belarusian law enforcers arrested five persons suspected of being involved in illegal shipments of cigarettes abroad, Alaksandar\" \/>\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\/180322\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Belarus&#039; police arrest five \u201creal thugs\u201d in cigarette smuggling case, \u0141uka\u0161enka says | Pozirk\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"March 20, Pozirk. 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