Lithuanian authorities suspended operations at the country’s main airport, Vilnius Airport, on Tuesday night, after dozens of smugglers’ balloons entered its airspace, the country’s National Crisis Management Center (NCMC) said in a statement.
“Operations have been disrupted due to weather balloons used to smuggle cigarettes from Belarus,” the NCMC said, asking passengers to follow official airport information.
Eight incoming flights have so far been redirected, including to Lithuania’s Kaunas airport and to Warsaw, the Vilnius airport’s operator said.
Vilnius Airport suspends operations for second time this month
The incident marks the second time this month that Vilnius Airport has been forced to suspend operations because of balloons having entered its airspace.
On October 5, balloons, some confirmed carrying smuggled cigarettes, , delaying some 30 flights and affecting 6,000 passengers for hours.
After Lithuania built a with Belarus and closed some crossings last year, smuggling across land became virtually impossible.
Smugglers have now taken it up to the skies instead, employing drones and weather balloons, Bloomberg News reported earlier this month.
The incidents also come following multiple recent incursions by in September.
Edited by: Karl Sexton
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