Lithuania arrests 21 in alleged cigarette smuggling ring using weather balloons from Belarus

Lithuanian authorities said Tuesday they had arrested 21 people allegedly connected to a criminal network that smuggled cigarettes using specially equipped weather balloons from Russia-allied Belarus which have violated the Baltic country's airspace in recent weeks. Investigators conducted more than 80 searches, seizing cigarettes with Belarusian excise stamps, SIM cards, communication and tracking signal jammers and firearms among other things, the Lithuanian general prosecutor's office said in a statement. Lithuania earlier this month declared a national emergency over security risks posed by the meteorological balloons sent from Belarus.