Overview
- Airspace over the capital was closed from about 20:30 to 22:43 local time on October 30 after radar detected balloons near Vilnius Airport.
- Roughly 20 flights and more than 2,000 passengers were affected, with cancellations, diversions and delays reported.
- Border guards and police located three objects that evening, two in the Varėna district and one in Vilnius.
- Police said the balloons carried suspected smuggled Minsk Capital cigarettes along with GPS trackers equipped with SIM cards.
- Authorities say this was at least the sixth such breach this month linked to launches from Belarus, and Lithuania has restricted crossings on that border.