Katelynas says Lithuania controls tunnel threat as detection tools sought

Lithuania is controlling a new threat from underground tunnels used by people attempting to enter illegally, Interior Minister Martynas Katelynas said, according to LRT.

“We are not seeing any particularly significant increase in illegal migration. Tunnels are a new phenomenon, and we are dealing with it,” Katelynas told journalists at the Government on Wednesday.

He said technology borrowed from Poland had helped border guards detect tunnels before they were completed. Lithuania knows approximately where the tunnels are being dug and can identify them with a high degree of accuracy, he said.

The Interior Ministry plans to purchase the technology, although Katelynas could not say when the equipment would reach Lithuanian border guards. He said the procurement process was under way and would cost about 100,000 euros, rather than millions.

In early August, Lithuanian border guards found a third tunnel near the village of Latežeris in Druskininkai Municipality. The tunnel had been dug about 1.5 metres below the physical border barrier and was believed to have been intended for illegal migration from Belarus.

Latvian officials found the first such tunnel on their territory on Tuesday.

Prime Minister Mindaugas Sinkevičius warned on Tuesday that underground tunnels could become a new means of illegal migration and other potentially threatening activities. He said Lithuania also needed to seek technological solutions to prevent such threats.

This year, Lithuania’s State Border Guard Service has registered 12 attempts to enter the country by digging underground tunnels.