Minister rejects systemic corruption claim after border guard arrests

Interior Minister Martynas Katelynas said the arrests of officials in a suspected smuggling investigation were isolated cases of dishonesty, LRT reported. He said he did not believe corruption had become entrenched in Lithuania’s statutory services.

“I do not want to believe that this is an entrenched problem. There are isolated cases when officials behave dishonestly and abuse their positions. Such situations occur. We are no different from other people, and this happens throughout the world,” Katelynas told reporters on Wednesday.

He said the detention of three State Border Guard Service officials in a smuggling investigation showed that the service was addressing problems internally.

“I truly believe that what we saw yesterday is a good example that the services are cleaning themselves from within,” Katelynas said, adding that the issue should be made public. “We have this problem and we acknowledge it.”

The minister said he was pleased that the services were able to detain colleagues suspected of dishonesty, but repeated that he considered such cases isolated.

“I hope there will not be many such cases and that these really are isolated incidents, because I truly do not believe in systemic corruption in our statutory services. But I acknowledge that individual cases exist,” he said.

Katelynas also agreed that insufficient funding for statutory services could be one reason officials might be tempted to engage in illegal activity. He said some officials could seek unlawful ways to earn more money.

The State Border Guard Service said on Tuesday that seven people, including three officials, had been detained in an investigation into cigarette smuggling. The detentions took place on Monday during an operation in Lazdijai District and around Varėna.

According to the service, officials first spotted boxes containing Belarusian cigarettes being flown in from Belarus by drones. They later detained two people who were allegedly arriving to collect the shipment.

Two junior specialists from the Kapčiamiestis border guard station who were on duty were detained. Another group of border guards detained two more people in Valkininkai who were suspected of organising the smuggling operation. During the investigation, officers in Varėna also detained a senior investigator from the Varėna border guard unit who was suspected of possible criminal activity.

In May, law enforcement authorities reported operations in which 27 people were detained while investigating suspected cigarette smuggling using meteorological balloons. Those detained included 10 police officers and three border guards.