A major smuggling channel was intercepted in the Šalčininkai district – three persons were detained.
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Realizing that the authorities knew his identity and the circumstances of the criminal activity, the man himself came to the Šalčininkai police station.
Law enforcement reported on Friday that on May 19, officers from the Organized Crime Investigation Division of the Vilnius County Chief Police Commissariat, together with colleagues from the Šalčininkai District Police Commissariat and the Special Preparedness Unit of the Public Order Department, dismantled an organized criminal scheme during a successful operation in the Šalčininkai district.
Three persons were detained in the Šalčininkai district, suspected of large-scale smuggling and illegal possession of excise goods.
According to the pre-trial investigation data, in the Šalčininkai district, Jašiūnai eldership, in a forest near the village of Naujasodis, officers noticed two suspicious vehicles that had been prepared in advance for transporting illegal cargo.
Near the vehicles, 24 boxes of smuggled cigarettes marked with Belarusian Republic excise stamps were found. The signs at the scene and the evidence found reasonably suggested that the tobacco was brought into Lithuanian territory by meteorological balloons – a method increasingly used recently by criminal groups to bypass state border control.
Immediately, during organized urgent search actions, two suspects connected to this activity were detained in the forest.
Two suspects detained, the third came forward
The third person managed to leave the scene, but soon realizing that law enforcement officers knew his identity and the circumstances of the criminal activity, the man himself came to the Šalčininkai district police station.
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During searches of the detainees’ vehicles, residences, and auxiliary premises, a total of 24 boxes containing 12,000 packs of “NZ” cigarettes were found and seized. The total value of the cigarettes found, including mandatory taxes payable in Lithuania, amounts to about 65,000 euros (the cargo value exceeds the amount of 900 MGL).
During the searches, a wide range of technical equipment used to coordinate criminal activity and to monitor and suppress law enforcement actions was also confiscated: GPS devices, communication jamming equipment, binoculars, night vision device, computers, mobile phones, and cash.
A pre-trial investigation has been initiated regarding this incident under Article 199, Part 3 (Smuggling) and Article 199², Part 3 (Illegal possession of excise goods) of the Criminal Code of the Republic of Lithuania. The suspects face imprisonment for up to eight years.
The court ordered detention
The court imposed the strictest preventive measure – detention for three months – on all three detained persons after charges were brought.
The pre-trial investigation is organized and led by a prosecutor from the Organized Crime and Corruption Investigation Division of the Vilnius District Prosecutor’s Office. Officers from the Vilnius County Organized Crime Investigation continue active investigative actions to identify and detain all persons involved in this smuggling network.
The police remind that smuggling cases can be reported by phone at +370 700 60777. The phone line operates on working days from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m.
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