Customs and TradeNewsSmuggling

Border Guards Detain Belarusians Unloading Cigarettes from a Train 

In Varėna, officers of the State Border Guard Service (SBGS) grabbed two Belarusian citizens linked to a large cargo of smuggled cigarettes with evidence. They unloaded cigarette boxes from a wagon parked in a remote railway area with an excavator.

On Thursday evening, officers of the Criminal Intelligence Division of the Varėna Border Team arrived at Varėna Railway Station with the help of colleagues from the Special Purpose Division. Both of them loaded a cardboard box covered with black polyethylene film from a stationary train wagon in a remote location where a railway branch was installed. This consignment transported a cargo of rubble from Belarus.

The detainees did not have any identity documents with them, but the border guards quickly found out that they were Belarusian citizens, aged 38 and 41. In Lithuania, the men were legal and had visas issued to them, giving them the right to enter the Schengen area.

SBGS officers found 160 boxes of cigarettes “Minsk Capital QS”, “NZ Gold” and “Minsk 5 Superslims” in the wagon and next to it, in total – 79 thousand. 955 packets of smokers.

Such cargo in Lithuania, including all mandatory taxes, is worth almost 290 thousand. euros.

After interrogations, both Belarusians were detained. On Friday, the Varėna Chamber of the Alytus District Court allowed foreigners to be arrested for two months. Cigarette loaders with clues face up to eight years in prison or imprisonment.

A pre-trial investigation has been initiated into the Varėna border team regarding the illegal disposal of excisable goods. In this unit of the SBGS, the cargo and excavator of smuggled smokers are also temporarily stored.