Holy smokes! Lithuania has closed its two largest airports and the border with Belarus after at least one helium weather balloon smuggling cigarettes violated controlled airspace.
Vilnius and Kaunas airports were shut down until 2 a.m. Saturday morning after balloons carrying contraband cigarettes were spotted by Lithuanian authorities late Friday night. Lithuania’s National Crisis Management Center reported detecting “tens of balloons” on its radar Friday, according to Reuters.
The nation’s border with Belarus will remain closed until Sunday, with Lithuanian leadership placing blame on Belarus President Alexander Lukashenko, who has not stopped the practice of smuggling goods using balloons.
“The National Security Commission will meet next week to assess what can be done short-term that would be painful to the smugglers and to Lukashenko’s regime, which allows them to thrive,” Lithuania’s Prime Minister Ingrida Šimonytė said in a statement.
This is not the first time Vilnius Airport has been impacted by such incidents. It was also forced to close on October 5 and October 21 when smuggler balloons crossed into Lithuanian airspace.
In recent weeks, several other airports in NATO countries have faced incursions into controlled airspace by mysterious drones, many believed to be of Russian origin.
The major German hub, Munich Airport, was forced to abruptly shut down air traffic twice in less than 24 hours on October 4, canceling 17 flights after drones were spotted.
Similarly, officials in Denmark canceled inbound and outbound flights at Aalborg Airport and Copenhagen Airport on September 24, and again at Aalborg and Skrydstrup Air Base on September 27 after drones thought to be Russian were sighted over the Nordic country.
Meanwhile, Poland shot down several of 19 confirmed Russian drones with F-35 fighter jets on September 19, an action Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk called an “unprecedented threat.”
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