Eight Meteoprobes Carrying Cigarettes And One Drone Were Intercepted In Lithuania

On the night of November 11.

On the night of November 11, Lithuanian border guards intercepted eight balloons with smuggled cigarettes and one drone, flying from Belarus to Lithuania. This is reported by "Zerkalo" with reference to the State Border Guard Service of Lithuania.

Two cases of interception of smuggled cigarettes, delivered by air, were recorded in Shalcininka district, the rest - in Vareni district. All shipments had GPS transmitters attached to them, which smugglers use to track the location of their parcels. According to preliminary data, they contained more than 13 thousand packs of smuggled cigarettes.

Border guards detected a drone flying from Belarus in Shalchininka district. VSAT officers promptly used the available anti-drone equipment, disrupted the control of the aircraft and forced it to land. It turned out to be a homemade smuggling drone. The search continued in the morning.

The officers of the Lithuanian Border Guard Service are conducting a pre-trial investigation into the illegal storage and trafficking of excisable goods.

The State Border Guard Service notes that a total of 564 batches of cigarettes delivered from Belarus to Lithuania by balloons have been intercepted since the beginning of the year. The standard size of such a shipment is three boxes of Belarusian cigarettes, i.e. about 1,500 packs, although there are smaller and larger shipments. Usually GPS devices are attached to them.

This year, border guards also landed 52 smuggling drones, which were used to deliver illegal tobacco products from Belarus to Lithuania. Last year there were 54 such drones.

"In total, in 2025, more than 1.3 million packs of cigarettes were transported and seized with the help of drones and balloons from the neighboring country to Lithuania, while this year about 4 million packs of smuggled tobacco products were detained," the agency said.

In addition, 103 people allegedly linked to smuggling by air have been detained this year (46 last year).

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