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Balloons ferrying smuggled cigarettes from Belarus grounded Lithuania’s essential airport right into a halt.
As many as 4,000 passengers and 30 flights have been affected after the incident at Vilnius Airport late last night.
Greater than a dozen incoming flights were diverted – 10 to Kaunas, two to Riga, and one each to Palanga and Warsaw, and one other 10 were cancelled.
Vilmantas Vitkauskas, head of Lithuania’s National Crisis Management Centre (NKVC) said the balloons were launched from multiple sites in Belarus as a part of a coordinated operation.
He told LRT Radio this morning: ‘The intensity and variety of balloon launches were very high, and more than likely this was not from a single point – it was a coordinated operation.’
The balloons have been present in five areas – Lazdijai, Druskininkai, Varėna, Šalčininkai, and Vilnius, in accordance with Vitkauskas.
A press release from the National Crisis Management Centre (NCMC) earlier confirmed the incident, saying in an announcement:’Operations have been disrupted attributable to weather balloons used to smuggle cigarettes from Belarus.’
That is the second time in a month that the country’s largest airport was shut down attributable to the same incident involving contraband from neighbouring Belarus.
On October 5, large helium balloons carrying contraband cigarettes also led to flight cancellations and delays.
On the time, a complete of 25 balloons were detected, including two flying above Vilnius airport, the NCMC said.
Seven of those had been recovered by authorities and were found to be carrying 12,000 packs of cigarettes.
Vilnius Airport has already reopened after last night’s closure but that is the most recent incident involving Nato airspace.
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