Lithuanian Customs Officers Detain Record Batch Of Inedible Belarusian ‘Sausage’

Even experienced customs officials were surprised at the arrogance of the perpetrators.

Lithuanian customs officers detained a record batch of smuggled Belarusian cigarettes worth 4 million euros at the border. The smugglers tried to import them from the Kaliningrad region of Russia under the guise of sausages, according to the Lithuanian customs.

The illegal cargo was transported to the EU along an unusual route: not from Belarus, but from Russia.

On July 29, a DAF truck with Russian license plates tried to enter Lithuania from the neighboring Kaliningrad region through the Kybartai checkpoint. The driver, a citizen of the Russian Federation, said that he was transporting almost 19 tons of Doktorskaya sausage in transit to Vladimir. However, they decided to check the truck on an x-ray and found out that there was a completely different cargo inside.

“And when the truck was opened, even experienced customs officers were surprised at the arrogance of the perpetrators: the entire semi-trailer was full of boxes of smuggled cigarettes right up to the door. There were so many of them that they almost fell out the open door,” the customs office said.

According to the officers, the inscription “Sausage” on the boxes made them smile.

In fact, inside were NZ Gold and Queen Menthol cigarettes produced by the Hrodna Neman Tobacco Factory — a total of 2,000 boxes with more than 1 million packs. The cost of cigarettes, including taxes, is estimated at 4.12 million euros — the batch is already called a record.

A pre-trial investigation was launched, the driver was arrested for 15 days.