MINSK, 20 March (BelTA) – Belarus President Aleksandr Lukashenko has told reporters about a recent operation to apprehend criminals, who had been involved in smuggling cigarettes across the border, BelTA has learned.
Aleksandr Lukashenko said: “[Internal Affairs Minister Ivan] Kubrakov informed me about the operation’s completion. They have apprehended five Belarusian smugglers right there at the border. Our people rented some vacant house. It was bought from some relatives for a song. Packs of cigarettes were found in this house. A gas bottle used to fill air balloons… Everything for smuggling. Police has apprehended them. Gangsters, who have been convicted many times. True gangsters.”
The operation was mentioned as part of the conversation about the Lithuanian government accusing Belarus of smuggling cigarettes using weather balloons. The president remarked that people receive these illegal cargoes in Lithuania’s territory. Apart from that, Lithuanians themselves are involved in smuggling the goods from the Belarusian territory. “Here is my stance: you have enforced sanctions. Are we now supposed to catch these smugglers here, who buy our goods at a good price and smuggle them to people in need in Lithuania?” the Belarusian leader asked a logical question. “But I’ve promised that we will look in what people do in Belarus as well.”
Dwelling on the topic of weather balloons, the president pointed out that weather balloons can hardly paralyze the work of airports. Although Lithuania claims that balloons with smuggled goods allegedly affect the operation of the airport in Vilnius. “An aircraft takes off. A clean takeoff. It was obvious that there are no balloons on the runway. It took off and now flies high – 10-11km. And balloons don’t fly there,” the president stressed. Pilots have been consulted about the matter and have confirmed that these balloons do not represent a serious problem.
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