Lithuania closes its border with Belarus after detecting dozens of balloons used for tobacco smuggling

“Lithuania closes its border with Belarus indefinitely,” Lithuanian public broadcaster LRT reported, citing the National Crisis Management Center as a source.

The decision to close the border with Belarus was made shortly after Vilnius Airport announced at 19:42 GMT that it was suspending all flight operations due to weather balloons, allegedly used for cigarette smugglingwhich were flying into Lithuanian airspace from Belarus.

The airport in the Lithuanian capital indicated on its website that it expected to resume operations around 23:40 GMT.

In a press release published this Sunday, the Lithuanian Ministry of the Interior, responsible for the Border Guard Service, stated that “the number of smuggled balloons detected in 2025 (557) is more than double that in 2024 (226).”

The ministry also noted that “between January and September 2025, four-fifths (80.1%) of cigarettes imported from Belarus to Lithuania were transported by airusing balloons or other unmanned aerial vehicles”.

In total, this year more than 1.1 million packets of cigarettes transported by air, of which about 800,000 were transported using balloons.

According to Lithuanian media, shipments of smuggled cigarettes suspended in balloons They usually include a SIM card so that recipients can locate them.

This has also allowed the Lithuanian police to find the place where the contraband loads land and arrest the people who collect them.

The Lithuanian Executive and the Army of the Baltic country have debated the possibility of shooting down balloons transporting contraband material, but the assessment prevailed that such actions would carry the risk of causing damage to people and property on the ground, due to cargo falling from great heights.