Balloons From Belarus Have Entered Poland

They were carrying a large shipment of contraband cigarettes.

Polish border guards seized nearly 660,000 cigarettes that had been smuggled from Belarus using weather balloons. Five people arrived to retrieve the contraband, reports the Warmia-Masuria Detachment of the Polish Border Guard.

The operation was carried out on October 20 after receiving information about suspicious balloons flying toward Warmia and Masuria.

Packages of cigarettes were discovered in four counties—Olecko, Ełk, Giżycko, and Kętrzyn. In one instance, border guards worked together with police officers from Olecko.

All of the seized cigarettes bore Belarusian excise stamps. The value of the shipment was estimated at 680,000 zlotys.

Four Lithuanians and one Belarusian who had arrived to pick up the goods were detained. The district prosecutor’s offices in Ełk and Olecko charged them with tax crimes, as well as with violating the law on special measures to counter support for aggression against Ukraine and to protect national security.

The court remanded all five in custody. According to the Border Guard Service, they face at least three years in prison.

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