Lithuanian border guards seize nine balloon-borne cigarette shipments

Lithuanian border guards seized nine cigarette shipments carried by balloons from Belarus on Thursday, bringing more than 55,000 packs of illegal cigarettes into state custody, LRT reported, citing the State Border Guard Service (VSAT).

Border guards and police intercepted the shipments at locations in Varėna district, in four cases; Kaišiadorys district, in three; Ukmergė district, in one; and Panevėžys district, in one. Some of the larger loads were carried by groups of several balloons. GPS transmitters were attached to all the shipments so smugglers could track their locations.

The nine loads contained a total of 55,490 packs of Belarusian cigarettes. Materials on the incidents will be added to ongoing pre-trial investigations into the illegal possession of excise goods, overseen by prosecutors in several districts.

Authorities have intercepted 166 balloon-carried cigarette shipments from Belarus so far this year. VSAT said such attempts have fallen severalfold after the state introduced measures to counter balloon smuggling. There were 635 cases in 2025, 226 in 2024, none in 2022 and three in 2023.

The measures include declaring a state-level emergency, setting up a joint law enforcement task force, conducting operations against people involved in the smuggling and amending laws. VSAT said cigarettes are also sometimes flown from Belarus to Poland. This year, 185 such shipments have been intercepted there and 16 in Latvia.

Border guards have also brought down 61 smuggling drones this year. The drones are used to fly illegal cigarettes from Belarus into Lithuania. Authorities intercepted 59 such drones in 2025 and 54 in 2024.