Holy smokes!
Lithuania closed its two largest airports and their border with Belarus after at least one helium weather balloon smuggling cigarettes violated controlled airspace.
Vilnius and Kaunas airports were shut down until 2 a.m. Saturday morning after the balloons carrying the smokes were spotted by Lithuanian authorities late Friday night.
Lithuania’s National Crisis Management Center said it detected “tens of balloons” on its radar Friday, Reuters reported.
The nation’s border with Belarus will remain closed until Sunday with leadership placing blame on Belarus President Alexander Lukashenko who has not stopped the practice of smuggling goods with balloons.
“The National Security Commission will meet next week to assess … what can be done short-term that would be painful to the smugglers and to Lukashenko’s regime, which allows them to thrive,” Lithuania’s Prime Minister Igna Ruginiene said in a statement.
Vilnius Airport was also forced to close on Oct. 5 and Oct. 21 when smuggler’s balloons crossed into Lithuanian airspace.
In recent weeks, several other airports in NATO countries have been beleaguered by incursions into controlled airspace by mystery drones that many suggested belonged to Russia.
The major German hub Munich Airport was forced to abruptly shut down air traffic twice in less than 24-hours on Oct. 4 — canceling 17 flights after drones were spotted in the air.
Officials in Denmark were forced to cancel inbound and outbound flights at Aalborg Airport in Copenhagen on Sept. 24 and then again at Aalborg and Skrydstrup Air Base on Sept. 27, after drones believed to be Russian in origin were sighted high over the Nordic country.
And Poland shot down several of 19 confirmed Russian drones with F-35 fighter jets, on Sept. 19, in an action Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk called an “unprecedented threat.”
With Wires.
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