Balloons used to smuggle cigarettes shut Vilnius airport
Balloons carrying thousands of packets of cigarettes broke flights in Lithuania, because Vilnius airport was forced to close for hours when dozens of countries entered the airspace.
National Crisis Management Center (NCMC) BBC’ye, neighboring Belarus’dan Lithuania entering 25 meteorological balloon was detected, he said.
The airport said that closing 30 flights affecting 6,000 ways. He warned that there may be delays on Monday.
“Airspace Violations” Increased voltage time in Europe A series of drones, which was suspected of being linked to Russia, caused a disruption of air traffic.
Moscow rejected any participation in recent events.
Lithuanian officials, Vilnius in the weekend, Lithuania’s capital, which hosts and close to the border of Belarus up to 14 air balloon swim in the Vilnius region, he said.
Lithuania’s State Border Guard Service, since then at least 11 balloons carrying 18,000 packages of black market cigarettes have been saved, but this number may increase, he said.
Despite their deterioration, a NCMC spokesman: “Illegal -charged balloons – cigarettes from Belarus – is nothing new in Lithuania, Latvia and Poland.”
This year, 544 balloons were recorded by entering Lithuania from Belarus so far, 966 was last year, he said.
Meanwhile, the northeastern podskie region of Poland, which limits Belarus, typically recorded more than 100 cases that he avoided his neighbor using balloons used to move air instruments to high altitudes.
In an example last month, the Polish police detained a Belarus citizen surrounding the kidnapping cigarettes while using a balloon. It was reported that a geographical location label linked to illegal goods on his phone.
When asked why criminals use a very sensitive method against weather conditions rather than drones, NCMC spokesman said: “Meteorological balloons are a primitive tool used by smugglers – they are cheaper than drones to carry cigarettes from Belarus.”
“The purpose of our services is to seize the largest possible quantities of smugness and to detain organizers and perpetrators, so that this activity is unprofitable and does not pose a risk for civil aviation.”
Drones of uncertain origin caused the closure of Denmark airports and airspace in September. The drone was also seen on neighboring Norway and Germany, and encouraged European leaders to accelerate discussions on strengthening air defenses.
Danish, although Moscow was responsible for the previous airspace attacks on Poland, Estonia and Romania, there was no evidence to propose Russian participation.
Russia rejected these previous attacks or He said they were accidentally As the full -scale invasion of nearby Ukraine continues.
