Polish authorities detained five men over balloon-smuggled cigarettes from Belarus, as rising cross-border incidents force airspace limits and tighter security.
Polish authorities detained five people Thursday in connection with a smuggling operation that used weather balloons to transport cigarettes from Belarus, causing millions in tax losses and disrupting air traffic.
The suspects, including Ukrainian, Belarusian and Polish nationals, face charges related to organised crime, violations of air traffic regulations and supporting aggression against Ukraine.
They face between nine months and 12 years in prison if convicted. All five have been remanded in custody for three months.
Investigators said the group smuggled at least 48,000 packets of cigarettes worth nearly 1 million zloty (€237,000) between September 2025 and February of this year. The Polish treasury lost an estimated 2 million zloty (€474,000) in unpaid excise taxes.
The smuggling operation involved assembling cigarette parcels in weather balloons equipped with GPS devices. Once the balloons reached Polish territory, GPS tracking allowed smugglers to locate and retrieve the cargo, according to investigators.
Polish Border Guard searches in and around Siedlce revealed contraband cigarettes and GPS positioning equipment used in the operation.
Polish services have repeatedly reported weather balloons laden with cigarettes from Belarus violating Polish airspace or landing on Polish territory in recent months.
This year, Polish radar systems detected similar flying objects on multiple consecutive nights, causing temporary restrictions on air traffic in the Podlaskie region. The army and the Border Guard recorded an increase in incidents compared to early 2025.
In January, the Podlaskie Border Guard Unit seized approximately 1.75 million cigarettes without Polish excise stamps, worth nearly 1.78 million zloty (€421,000), allegedly smuggled in balloons from Belarus. Two Belarusians detained in that case were charged and arrested for three months.
In 2025, officers from the Podlaskie Border Guard Unit detained 29 people involved in smuggling cigarettes using weather balloons. They seized 3.4 million zloty (€805,000) worth of cigarettes smuggled by this method.
Neighbouring Lithuania reported numerous incidents of balloons with cigarettes entering its airspace from Belarus in late 2025, leading to arrests and investigations. Latvia faces similar problems.
Poland has repeatedly summoned Belarusian diplomats to the Foreign Ministry for explanations, stating that such activities violate the law and the sovereignty of neighbouring countries.