Lithuanian foreign minister calls officials detained in smuggling probe traitors

Lithuania’s foreign minister Kęstutis Budrys has branded 13 officials detained in a cigarette smuggling investigation as “traitors,” saying they aided a foreign state’s actions against Lithuania, LRT reports.

The officials—including 10 police officers and three border guards—were arrested last week in a series of raids linked to a probe into cigarette smuggling via meteorological balloons from Belarus. Authorities seized thermal imagers, drones, GPS devices, radio stations, face masks, SIM cards, and cigarette-packaging tools during 74 searches involving over 100 officers.

“From the very beginning, we knew there were collaborators on our side working with the enemy,” Budrys told LRT Radio on Tuesday. “Their failure to act against balloon launch sites in Belarus—despite knowing their locations—amounts to complicity in a hybrid attack. I consider these people traitors.”

While the detained officials are not accused of directly organising the smuggling, Marius Draudvila, deputy police commissioner general, said they face charges of “abuse of office,” including “turning a blind eye to processes, sharing official information, and other actions.” All have been suspended from duty.

Budrys stressed the case exposed systemic vulnerabilities but also demonstrated the state’s ability to address them. “This isn’t just about illegal trade—it’s about disrupting aviation, sowing panic, and damaging Lithuania’s reputation,” he said, urging legal consequences for “aiding a foreign state against us.”

The minister also called for stronger EU support following drone incidents in the Baltic Sea, citing the need for anti-drone systems, early-warning expansions, and shelter programmes under the EU’s “Eastern Flank Guard” initiative. “The whole EU must invest in this—not just the frontline states bearing the brunt,” he argued, ahead of talks with European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen.

Lithuania and eight other EU members launched the *EastInvest* platform in February to bolster eastern border security and investment, including drone-defence measures. Budrys welcomed Western political attention but pushed for “clear financial, organisational, and military decisions” from the EU and NATO.