Lithuanian court convicts men for smuggling cigarettes from Belarus by balloon

A Lithuanian court has sentenced two men to prison for receiving smuggled cigarettes flown across the border from Belarus using balloons, prosecutors announced on Monday.

The Druskininkai division of the Alytus Regional Court found the men guilty of operating as part of an organised group that transported Belarusian-branded cigarettes into Lithuania between May and November 2025, according to the prosecution service.

Investigators determined that the defendants, identified as L.K. and E.N., worked with accomplices in both Belarus and Lithuania to retrieve at least 9,000 packs of Minsk 5 Super Slims, Minsk Capital QS, and NZ Gold cigarettes—all marked with Belarusian tax stamps—with an estimated value of nearly €45,000.

The smuggling operation relied on balloons equipped with GPS devices and mobile communication tools to move the excise goods across the state border, prosecutors said.

The court handed down an 8-month suspended sentence to L.K. and a 14-month suspended sentence to E.N. Both men must begin or continue employment and observe a nighttime curfew from 11 PM to 6 AM, unless work-related. They were also ordered to jointly pay a fine equivalent to the value of the confiscated goods and their illicit earnings.

The verdict may be appealed within 20 days of its announcement.