{"id":201900,"date":"2026-08-31T19:19:59","date_gmt":"2026-08-31T16:19:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/news\/201900\/"},"modified":"2026-08-31T19:20:02","modified_gmt":"2026-08-31T16:20:02","slug":"latvia-intercepts-drone-carrying-belarusian-cigarettes","status":"publish","type":"articles","link":"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/news\/201900\/","title":{"rendered":"Latvia intercepts drone carrying Belarusian cigarettes"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><strong>August 31, <em>Pozirk.<\/em><\/strong> A drone carrying smuggled Belarusian cigarettes was discovered in the Aug\u0161daugava municipality, Latvia\u2019s State Border Guard reported on August 31.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The drone was found on August 30 near the village of Demene close to the Belarusian border. A rectangular box wrapped in white plastic film containing the contraband was attached to its underside.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Border guards seized a total of 15,000 NZ Gold cigarettes bearing Belarusian excise stamps.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>A criminal case was opened in connection with the discovery.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>On June 8, the State Border Guard reported that a weather balloon carrying a package of 20,000 NZ Gold cigarettes with Belarusian excise stamps was found two days earlier in the Aug\u0161daugava municipality.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Lithuania is the main destination for cigarette smuggling from Belarus relying on drones and balloons, while Latvia rarely records such incidents.<\/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\/2026\/08\/sigarety_ruberoid_polsha_kas_1128x752-354x236.jpg\" class=\"attachment-medium size-medium\" alt=\"\" srcset=\"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/sigarety_ruberoid_polsha_kas_1128x752-354x236.jpg 354w, https:\/\/pozirk.online\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/sigarety_ruberoid_polsha_kas_1128x752-734x490.jpg 734w, https:\/\/pozirk.online\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/sigarety_ruberoid_polsha_kas_1128x752-178x118.jpg 178w, https:\/\/pozirk.online\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/sigarety_ruberoid_polsha_kas_1128x752-768x512.jpg 768w, https:\/\/pozirk.online\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/sigarety_ruberoid_polsha_kas_1128x752.jpg 1128w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 354px) 100vw, 354px\" \/>                        <label class=\"insert-block__tag--mobile\"> Society<\/label>\n\n                <\/div>\n    <div class=\"insert-block__text\">\n                    <label class=\"insert-block__tag\">Society<\/label>\n                <h3 class=\"insert-block__title\">Poland arrests Belarusian in $813,000 cigarette smuggling case<\/h3>\n        <div class=\"insert-block__descr\">August 25, Pozirk. Polish customs officers arrested a 40-year-old Belarusian national over an attempt to smuggle more than 150,000 packs of cigarettes into Poland via the Bobrowniki border crossing, Poland&#039;s National Revenue Administration reports. Officials found the illegal cargo during &#8230;<\/div>\n        <a class=\"insert-block__btn-block\" href=\"\/news\/201258\">\n            <button class=\"btn\">\n                <div class='btn__text'>Read <\/div>\n            <\/button>\n        <\/a>\n    <\/div>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>August 31, Pozirk. A drone carrying smuggled Belarusian cigarettes was discovered in the Aug\u0161daugava municipality, Latvia\u2019s State Border Guard reported on August 31. The drone was found on August 30 near the village of Demene close to the Belarusian border. A rectangular box wrapped in white plastic film containing the contraband was attached to its [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":83,"featured_media":201883,"template":"","rubric":[15],"class_list":["post-201900","articles","type-articles","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","rubric-society"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v25.5 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Latvia intercepts drone carrying Belarusian cigarettes | Pozirk<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"August 31, Pozirk. A drone carrying smuggled Belarusian cigarettes was discovered in the Aug\u0161daugava municipality, Latvia\u2019s State Border Guard reported on\" \/>\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\/201900\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Latvia intercepts drone carrying Belarusian cigarettes | Pozirk\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"August 31, Pozirk. A drone carrying smuggled Belarusian cigarettes was discovered in the Aug\u0161daugava municipality, Latvia\u2019s State Border Guard reported on\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/news\/201900\/\" \/>\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=\"2026-08-31T16:20:02+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/bpla-latvija-20260830-rs-gov-lv.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1290\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"860\" \/>\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=\"1 minute\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"NewsArticle\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/news\/201900\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/news\/201900\/\"},\"headline\":\"Latvia intercepts drone carrying Belarusian cigarettes\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-08-31T16:19:59+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-08-31T16:20:02+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/news\/201900\/\"},\"wordCount\":137,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/news\/201900\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/bpla-latvija-20260830-rs-gov-lv.jpg\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/news\/201900\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/news\/201900\/\",\"name\":\"Latvia intercepts drone carrying Belarusian cigarettes | Pozirk\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/news\/201900\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/news\/201900\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/bpla-latvija-20260830-rs-gov-lv.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-08-31T16:19:59+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-08-31T16:20:02+00:00\",\"description\":\"August 31, Pozirk. 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