Juozapavičiai balloons, Oct 24 - 33 km downwind

Border guards saw linked smuggling balloons at Gerdašiai on the evening of October 24, 2026, followed them to Juozapavičiai and found 12,000 packs of cigarettes, Lithuania's State Border Guard Service (VSAT) said. Gerdašiai lies 0.4 km from the Belarus border, and Juozapavičiai is 32.6 km almost due north of it, straight downwind of the 3,000 m wind from the south that evening, by AirVeto's measurement.

Guards followed the balloons from the border village to a forest in Lazdijai District

On Saturday evening officers from VSAT's Varėna border district and the Kapčiamiestis outpost spotted a chain of balloons near Gerdašiai village, in Druskininkai municipality. Bundles were attached to the balloons. The officers tracked the load to Juozapavičiai village in Lazdijai District, where it came down in the forest next to the village.

Smugglers fit such loads with GPS transmitters, VSAT said, so they can see where a cargo lands.

Coordinates on one man's phone led the guards to the first 6,000 packs

While the officers searched, they stopped a Subaru Legacy with German plates. The driver was a 35-year-old Lithuanian, and two men aged 38 and 28 rode with him. A navigation app on one man's phone held a set of coordinates.

The guards drove to those coordinates, a swampy area, and found bundles and plastic tubes with balloon remains. The bundles held 6,000 packs of NZ Gold cigarettes with Belarusian excise stamps.

A service dog found the second half of the cargo 22 km away on Sunday

On Sunday afternoon the guards searched a forest near Šlavantai village, also in Lazdijai District and 22 km from the first find, VSAT said. A Kapčiamiestis outpost dog handler joined the search. The dog, a two-and-a-half-year-old German shepherd called Grey, led an officer to balloon remains and six bundles with another 6,000 packs of the same cigarettes.

The 12,000 packs are worth more than 66,000 euros with the taxes owed in Lithuania. VSAT's Varėna border district opened a pre-trial investigation under a prosecutor from the Kaunas regional prosecutor's office. All three men were detained, and on Monday they were released after questioning with a written pledge not to leave, regular police registration and surrendered documents. The offence carries a fine or up to six years in prison.

The wind blew from the south all evening, along the line from Gerdašiai to Juozapavičiai

At 18:00 local time the wind at 3,000 m blew from the SSW at 28 km/h. At 2,000 m it came from the S at 34 km/h. By 23:00 the 3,000 m wind had strengthened to 47 km/h from the S.

A wind from the south carries air, and a balloon with it, toward the north. Juozapavičiai lies almost due north of Gerdašiai, so the track runs downwind.

AirVeto traced a straight line upwind from Juozapavičiai for every hour from 18:00 to 24:00 local time, at eight heights between 80 m and 7,000 m. All 56 lines left Lithuania across the Belarus border. Method.

This reconstruction is based on reporting by VSAT and 15min and AirVeto's wind-model data (DWD ICON-EU via Open-Meteo) for the event window.

At the evening's wind speeds the 33 km took between 40 and 70 minutes

By AirVeto's measurement, Gerdašiai is 0.4 km from the Belarus border and Juozapavičiai 31 km from it. The straight line between the two villages is 32.6 km.

At the 18:00 speed of 28 km/h, a balloon at 3,000 m covers that in about 70 minutes. At the 23:00 speed of 47 km/h it takes about 40 minutes.

The sources give no clock time for the sighting or the landing, and no balloon altitude. The figures are a straight-line minimum at one assumed height.

Two earlier cargoes came down within 26 km of this forest

On July 27 and 28, VSAT's Veismūnai ambush of a balloon cargo took place 12 km from Juozapavičiai, by AirVeto's measurement. The seven balloon shipments of February 6 has its pin 26 km away, at Druskininkai. The wider picture is on the Lithuania smuggling balloons page.