Lithuania's State Border Guard Service (VSAT) jammed and downed a cargo drone in a forest near Antaniškės, Šalčininkai District, overnight from Monday into Tuesday, VSAT said. AirVeto's archive counts it as the second contraband drone the same border post has landed in six days, and the 20th drone crossing from Belarus that AirVeto has reconstructed in Lithuania this year.
Officers of the Gintaras Žagunis border post, part of VSAT's Varėna Border Guard Unit, heard the drone's engine approaching from Belarus near Liškūniškės village late on September 21. They confirmed it on thermal imaging, then used anti-drone equipment to force it down over forest. Guards searched the area through the night and into daylight with a search drone of their own.
The burned drone frame and a foam-wrapped cigarette bundle in the forest near Antaniškės. Photo: VSAT.
The drone burned, but the cargo underneath survived
Border guards found the wreckage Tuesday morning near Antaniškės village, about 800 meters from the border. The crash and a fire had badly damaged the airframe. Two rectangular bundles were still attached to it, wrapped in white foam, and their cargo survived intact: 1,000 packs of "Minsk Superslims" cigarettes carrying Belarusian excise stamps. Lithuanian authorities valued the seizure at €5,510, the excise duty the cigarettes would have carried if sold legally.
VSAT opened administrative proceedings at the Gintaras Žagunis post over the unlawful acquisition and transport of excise goods, per its statement carried by LRT and diena.lt.
The 58th drone VSAT has landed this year
VSAT has intercepted 58 smuggler drones so far in 2026, in fewer than nine months. That is already close to the 59 landed across all of 2025. It is well above the 54 landed in 2024.
The pace is concentrated on this stretch of the Šalčininkai border. The same Gintaras Žagunis post landed a drone near Norviliškės, 7.7 km away, six days earlier. That drone carried 1,000 packs of NZ Gold cigarettes. The post landed three drones in a single night near the same village in July.
Wind over the Šalčininkai border crossing
The event window opened at 22:00 local time on September 21. At 500 m, the wind blew from the NW at 26 km/h. At 2,000 m it came from the NNW at 19 km/h. At 3,000 m it also came from the NNW, at 19 km/h.
This reconstruction is based on VSAT's account, reported by LRT and diena.lt, and on AirVeto's wind-model data for the event window. AirVeto's model and its documented limits are on the methodology page.
A full record of border and airspace incidents over Lithuanian territory is at Dronai Lietuvoje. The full incident archive is at incident archive.