Lithuanian authorities announced the arrest of 21 individuals suspected of belonging to an organised criminal network involved in smuggling cigarettes from Belarus using specially equipped weather balloons.
They were picked up yesterday, following a scare in the country over the balloons that saw Vilnius declare an emergency situation on December 9 over the incursions from Belarus.
Prime Minister Inga Ruginiene condemned the balloon incursions as a “hybrid attack” by Belarus that posed a real risk to national security and civil aviation.
The operation, involving more than 140 officers from the Lithuanian Criminal Police Bureau, Vilnius police, and special anti-terrorism units, included more than 80 searches.
Items seized included cigarettes bearing Belarusian excise stamps, SIM cards, communication and tracking signal jammers, firearms, luxury cars and other valuable property.
According to the Lithuanian General Prosecutor’s Office, the network was “characterised by a very strict conspiracy and distribution of roles”, with smuggling carried out “systematically, in a co-ordinated manner, under strict control of its organisers and their trustees”.
Prosecutors addeed: “The organisers may have had direct contacts with accomplices operating in the Republic of Belarus, from where, under favourable weather conditions, balloons with smuggled cigarettes were launched.
“Using tracking (GPS) equipment and appropriate programmes, the movement of the balloons was monitored and the exact co-ordinates of their landing in Lithuania were transmitted to the executors.”
All 21 suspects face charges of participating in a criminal organisation, illegal handling and smuggling of excise goods and aiding another state in acting against Lithuania.
This crackdown follows months of incidents involving such balloons, which have repeatedly violated Lithuanian airspace, disrupted flights at Vilnius Airport. They prompted Lithuania to declare a nationwide state of emergency earlier in December over security risks posed by the incursions.
Lithuania’s President, Gitanas Nauseda, has said there is a overwhelming evidence that the balloon threat was a “deliberate action aimed at destabilising the situation in Lithuania”.
Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko is an ally of Russia and was suspected of involvement.
Belarus has always denied any involvement.
A Belarusian official told Reuters a few days ago, though: “These balloons are not flying into nowhere; someone is making money on it.”
