Balloons carrying thousands of packs of cigarettes have disrupted flights in Lithuania, as Vilnius Airport was forced to close for hours when dozens of them floated into the country's airspace.
The National Crisis Management Centre (NCMC) reported that 25 meteorological balloons entered Lithuania from neighbouring Belarus, with two of them landing directly over the airport.
The airport's shutdown resulted in 30 flight cancellations, impacting 6,000 passengers, and the NCMC warned of potential delays extending into Monday.
The airspace violations come during a period of heightened tension in Europe following drone incursions allegedly linked to Russia, which have disrupted air traffic.
Moscow has denied any connections to these recent incidents.
14 of the launched weather balloons were recorded over the Vilnius area near the Belarus border, and at least 11 balloons have been retrieved, carrying a total of 18,000 packs of black-market cigarettes.
Despite the disruption, a spokesperson for the NCMC noted that smuggling with balloons—often filled with contraband cigarettes from Belarus—is not a new challenge in Lithuania and surrounding regions like Latvia and Poland, where similar issues have been reported.
This year, Lithuanian authorities noted 544 balloon instances from Belarus, while last year had 966 cases. The Podlaskie region of Poland has also reported various occurrences of smuggling via balloons.
A NCMC representative pointed out that smugglers prefer using meteorological balloons, as they are cheaper than drones for transporting goods. Their strategy aims to maximize the amount of contraband seized while minimizing risks to civil aviation.
Incidents earlier in September involving drones prompted insecurity across European airspaces, leading to calls for enhanced air defenses. Although Danish authorities cleared earlier drone sightings from Russian involvement, tensions remain high due to ongoing conflicts in nearby Ukraine.
