Lithuanian authorities on December 16, 2025, dismantled a criminal cigarette smuggling ring that used weather balloons launched from Belarus to transport contraband across Lithuanian airspace. The coordinated operation involved 140 law enforcement officers and over 80 searches, resulting in seizures of excise-stamped cigarettes, communication jammers, firearms, and luxury assets. Prosecutors detailed the organized and encrypted structure of the network, which monitored balloon trajectories via GPS to coordinate timely contraband retrieval and distribution. This smuggling tactic forced repeated closures of Vilnius airport and border checkpoints, prompting Lithuania to declare a national emergency. Belarusian President Lukashenka criticized Lithuania's security measures as a "hybrid war" against Belarus. The incident occurs amid heightened NATO and European vigilance over airspace violations by drones and balloons attributed to Russian and Belarusian hybrid tactics, triggering enhanced allied counter-drone deployments on the eastern flank.

Lithuanian authorities on December 16, 2025, dismantled a criminal cigarette smuggling ring that used weather balloons launched from Belarus to transport contraband across Lithuanian airspace. The coordinated operation involved 140 law enforcement officers and over 80 searches, resulting in seizures of excise-stamped cigarettes, communication jammers, firearms, and luxury assets. Prosecutors detailed the organized and encrypted structure of the network, which monitored balloon trajectories via GPS to coordinate timely contraband retrieval and distribution. This smuggling tactic forced repeated closures of Vilnius airport and border checkpoints, prompting Lithuania to declare a national emergency. Belarusian President Lukashenka criticized Lithuania's security measures as a "hybrid war" against Belarus. The incident occurs amid heightened NATO and European vigilance over airspace violations by drones and balloons attributed to Russian and Belarusian hybrid tactics, triggering enhanced allied counter-drone deployments on the eastern flank.