Lithuania intercepts nine balloon-borne cigarette shipments from Belarus
Lithuania's State Border Guard Service says it has intercepted nine cigarette shipments flown in from Belarus by balloon, totalling 55,490 packs. So far this year 166 such shipments have been caught, versus 635 in 2025.
Lithuania's State Border Guard Service announced on Thursday that it had intercepted nine shipments of smuggled cigarettes sent by balloon from neighbouring Belarus. In total, 55,490 packs were seized. Smuggling is one of the problems along the Lithuanian-Belarusian frontier, which is also an external border of the European Union.
The shipments were found in the districts of Varėna, Kaišiadorys, Ukmergė and Panevėžys. Some were carried by several balloons tied together. Every package had a GPS transmitter attached, which let the smugglers track where it was.
The border service said the evidence gathered would be added to pretrial investigations already under way into the illegal possession of excise goods.
Yearly figures
This year, Lithuanian border guards have intercepted 166 balloon-borne cigarette shipments from Belarus. By comparison, there were 635 such cases in 2025.
Smugglers also use drones to move cigarettes across the border. Border guards have brought down 61 such drones this year, after 59 last year and 54 in 2024.
