In the Alytus district, border guards intercepted a large quantity of cigarettes flown in from Belarus by a cluster of hot air balloons and detained three residents of Alytus who came to pick up this smuggled cargo. One of the suspects was given the strictest preventive measure – detention for three months.
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On Monday night, while checking information about smuggling cigarettes by hot air balloons, officers from the Criminal Intelligence Division of the State Border Guard Service (VSAT) Criminal Investigation Department, cooperating with colleagues from the Criminal Intelligence Division of the VSAT Varėna Border Unit, found a large bag with a big load of smuggled cigarettes in the forest near Veismūnai village (Alytus district).
With the help of officers from the VSAT Special Purpose Board “Kovas” Eastern Division, border guards set up an ambush near the discovery site. After a couple of hours, at dawn, a Lithuania-registered Citroen Jumper minibus arrived in the forest to pick up the bundles of cigarettes. VSAT officers appeared from cover and detained the three men who arrived in it.
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It was established that the 24-, 35-, and 38-year-old residents of Alytus came to pick up the cigarettes flown in from Belarus, one of whom was recently deported from Ireland and has no permanent residence.
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All three men were locked up in the capital’s detention center.
