{"id":183555,"date":"2026-04-14T11:41:03","date_gmt":"2026-04-14T08:41:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/news\/183555\/"},"modified":"2026-04-14T14:16:11","modified_gmt":"2026-04-14T11:16:11","slug":"lithuania-intercepts-two-rafts-with-smuggled-belarusian-cigarettes","status":"publish","type":"articles","link":"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/news\/183555\/","title":{"rendered":"Lithuania intercepts two rafts with smuggled Belarusian cigarettes"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

April 14, Pozirk.<\/em><\/strong> Lithuanian border guards found two rafts carrying contraband tobacco products in rivers along the border with Belarus on April 8 and 9, Lithuania’s State Border Guard Service reports.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One of the rafts carrying 480 packs of cigarettes with Belarusian excise stamps was detected in the Neris River in the \u0160ven\u010dionys district. The floating device also had a GPS transmitter with a prepaid SIM card.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In another incident, officers at the Druskininkai border post used video surveillance to detect a makeshift metal raft on the Neman River. The raft carried more than 2,700 packs of NZ Gold and Fest cigarettes from Belarus, worth \u20ac14,720.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lithuanian authorities launched pre-trial investigations into both incidents.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Cases of cigarette smuggling by rafts have been decreasing recently, with only 32 incidents reported in 2025. Nearly 107,000 packs of tobacco products were sent across waterways, in contrast to 1.6 million packs delivered by weather balloons. Smuggling by air has been a source of significant tensions between Lithuania and Belarus since last fall.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

 In late 2025, Vilnius declared a low-level emergency over incursions by weather balloons carrying contraband goods that disrupted operations at the country\u2019s airports.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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