Varėna border guards find third tunnel from Belarus

State Border Guard Service officers have found a third unfinished underground tunnel leading from Belarus into Lithuania in recent weeks, LRT reports.

The tunnel was discovered on Tuesday near Latežeris village in the Druskininkai municipality by officers from the Kabeliai Border Guard Station, part of the Varėna Border Guard Unit. They used specialist tunnel detection equipment brought by experts from the Podlaskie section of Poland’s Border Guard Service.

The passage had been dug beneath a physical barrier at a depth of about 1.5 metres. It was reinforced with logs and boards and extended about four metres into Lithuanian territory from the border line.

On the Belarusian side, the tunnel entrance was covered with camouflage fabric. However, the passage was not finished and had no exit beyond the physical barrier marking the state border, meaning migrants or other people could not have used it to enter Lithuania.

The Varėna Border Guard Unit has launched a pretrial investigation into illegal border crossing under the direction of a prosecutor from the Alytus District Prosecutor’s Office, part of the Kaunas Regional Prosecutor’s Office. The offence is punishable by a fine, arrest or up to two years in prison.

After the necessary procedural actions were completed, the tunnel, which officers suspect was intended to facilitate the entry of foreign nationals from Belarus into Lithuania, was filled with earth.

On July 23, officers near Piesčiai village in Varėna District found another unfinished tunnel extending about five metres into Lithuania from Belarus. It also had no exit on the Lithuanian side.

On July 26, officers from the Kapčiamiestis Border Guard Station found an unfinished tunnel about 11 metres long near Pertakas village in Lazdijai District. It was located on the Lithuanian side, 9.5 metres from the physical barrier, and appeared to have been intended to run beneath a patrol path into Lithuania. Logs, possibly intended as supports, excavated sand and buckets were found nearby and inside the tunnel.

The State Border Guard Service said 12 attempts to enter Lithuania by digging underground had been recorded this year.