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

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

2025-12-17 00:26 Last Updated At：00:40

VILNIUS, Lithuania (AP) — 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. Luxury cars and valuable property were also confiscated.

Lithuania earlier this month declared a national emergency over security risks posed by the meteorological balloons sent from Belarus.

The balloons forced Lithuania to repeatedly shut down its main airport, stranding thousands of people, and led to the closure of border crossings between the two countries, as Europe remains on alert over previous intrusions into NATO airspace during the war in Ukraine.

Tuesday's operation involved more than 140 officers from the Lithuanian Criminal Police Bureau, Vilnius police and special anti-terrorism units.

The prosecutor's office said in a statement the alleged network was “characterized by a very strict conspiracy and distribution of roles, cigarette smuggling was carried out systematically, in a coordinated manner, under strict control of its organizers (leaders) and their trustees.”

The prosecutors allege that “the organizers may have had direct contacts with accomplices operating in the Republic of Belarus, from where, under favorable weather conditions, balloons with smuggled cigarettes were launched.”

“Using tracking (GPS) equipment and appropriate programs, the movement of the balloons was monitored, and the exact coordinates of their landing in Lithuania were transmitted to the executors,” prosecutors said. “After collecting the contraband, the latter had to deliver it to pre-agreed points or hand it over to other persons involved in the crimes.”

The Lithuanian authorities said that all 21 suspects would face charges of participating in a criminal organization, illegal handling and smuggling of excise goods and aiding another state in acting against Lithuania.

What to know about the search for the Brown University shooting suspect

PROVIDENCE, R.I. (AP) — With the Brown University shooter still on the loose Tuesday, police fanned out to Providence schools to reassure parents, kids and teachers as investigators pushed for new evidence that might help them crack the case.

Here's a look at what to know about the attack and the search:

Police have released five videos of the man suspected in Saturday's attack in an engineering building classroom, where two students were killed and nine others were wounded. None of the videos showed the man's face, which was either turned away or masked. But three videos released Monday provided the clearest images yet of the suspect, whom the FBI described as stocky and about 5 feet, 8 inches (173 centimeters) tall.

Authorities on Sunday released a person of interest after determining he wasn't behind the attack, which happened in a first-floor classroom where students were cramming for an exam.

The gunman fired more than 40 rounds from a 9 mm handgun, a law enforcement official told The Associated Press on the condition of anonymity because they weren't authorized to discuss the investigation publicly.

One of the wounded students, 18-year-old freshman Spencer Yang of New York City, told the New York Times and the Brown Daily Herald that there was a mad scramble after the gunman entered the room. Many students ran toward the front, but Yang said he wound up on the ground between some seats and was shot in the leg. He expected to be discharged within days.

The students who died were MukhammadAziz Umurzokov, an 18-year-old freshman from Brandermill, Virginia, and Ella Cook, a 19-year-old sophomore from a suburb of Birmingham, Alabama. Umurzokov was an aspiring neurosurgeon and Cook was a student leader of Brown's campus Republicans.

As of Sunday, one of the nine wounded students had been released from the hospital, one was in critical condition and seven others were in critical but stable condition, university President Christina Paxson said. Their conditions hadn't worsened as of Monday, Providence Mayor Brett Smiley said, adding that he didn’t have further information.

Authorities on Monday asked neighborhood residents and businesses for surveillance video that might help identify the attacker. They have said that one reason they lacked video of the shooter was because Brown’s engineering building doesn’t have many cameras.

Investigators were still performing basic investigative tasks days after the shooting, leaving some students and locals frustrated by the police response.

Kristy dosReis, a Providence police spokeswoman, said that at no point did the investigation stand down even after officials appeared to have a breakthrough in the case when they detained the person of interest they later released.

Levi Neuwirth, who said he was a Brown senior who used to have class in the room where the shooting happened, said anxiety is high on campus. But he said students and the rest of the Brown community have been supporting each other and displaying extra kindness.

“Campus is on edge, mourning, grieving, processing, all of the above that folks would expect,” said Neuwirth, of Wallkill, New York. “But I would really highlight that the major sentiment I feel and I know many of my peers feel is a strong sense of community, of love. We have each other’s backs.”

Whittle reported from Portland, Maine. Contributing were Associated Press reporters Kimberlee Kruesi, Amanda Swinhart, Robert F. Bukaty and Jennifer McDermott in Providence; Michael Casey in Boston; Heather Hollingsworth in Mission, Kansas; Kathy McCormack and Holly Ramer in Concord, New Hampshire; Christopher Weber in Los Angeles; and Alanna Durkin Richer, Mike Balsamo and Eric Tucker in Washington.