Border guards detain seven, including three officers, over cigarette smuggling

Lithuania’s State Border Guard Service detained seven people, including three officers, and seized a large shipment of illegal cigarettes during an operation in southern Lithuania, LRT reported.

The operation, conducted on Monday night, continued a pre-trial investigation into the illegal handling of excise goods. It involved officers from the service’s Immunity Board, Criminal Investigation Board, criminal intelligence units in Vilnius and Pagėgiai, and the Kovas special-purpose unit.

Initially, officers detained 22 boxes of Belarusian cigarettes near the border in Lazdijai district. The shipment was suspected of having just been flown in from Belarus by drones. Two people who arrived by car and allegedly intended to collect the cargo were also detained.

Officers from the Immunity Board and Kovas then detained two junior specialists from the Kapčiamiestis border post who were on duty at the time.

At nearly the same time, another group of border guards detained two more people in Valkininkai, Varėna district. They are suspected of organising the transportation of the smuggled goods.

On Monday morning, officers detained another official at his workplace in Varėna. He is the chief investigator of the Varėna border guard unit.