Overview
- Lithuania carried out more than 80 searches and seized cigarettes with Belarusian excise stamps, SIM cards, signal jammers and firearms in an operation involving over 140 officers.
- Prosecutors said the alleged network operated with strict roles and surveillance of balloon flights, with landing coordinates relayed to accomplices for retrieval and distribution.
- All 21 detainees in Lithuania face counts that include participation in a criminal organization, smuggling of excise goods, illegal handling of such goods and aiding another state in acting against Lithuania.
- Ukrainian border guards in Volyn Oblast found a package tied to balloon remnants containing 1,500 Minsk-brand cigarette packs and two GPS devices with Belarusian and Polish SIM cards, which they said likely pointed to a route toward Poland.
- Lithuania’s earlier emergency over repeated balloon incursions led to airport shutdowns and border closures, with authorities citing hundreds of balloon and drone entries and more than 300 disrupted flights affecting tens of thousands of passengers.