Double quantities of smuggled cigarettes are transported to Lithuania: customs officers’ work is complicated by perishable X-ray machines
The volume of smuggling has doubled in a few years and so far does not promise to stop. Although many cigarettes are caught by customs officers, the quantities could possibly be higher as work is hampered by perishable X-ray machines. Some commentators say the ever-failing equipment already has a few different thoughts on whether or not someone has nailed it.
A truck transporting gypsum boards from Belarus to Lithuania got stuck in the customs. It turns out that this is not just a load for yourself – thousands of packets of cigarettes are cleverly masked on the plates. Customs officers had to break down the gypsum boards to pull out the whole secret.
The head of the customs department says that although Lukashenko has promised to flood Lithuania with migrants and drugs, at least they record that cigarettes are being sent to Lithuania instead of drugs. And in huge quantities.
If in 2018-2018 customs officers managed to seize almost 123 million cigarettes, the number has increased by about 50 million a year later. However, this number almost doubled in 2020, and the pace will not slow down this year either. From January to September, customs officers detected 281 million cigarettes, and compared to the same period last year, the amount is 16 million higher. So there could be a new arrested smuggling record by the end of the year.
“Despite the fact that we are also working well, the growth on that side is really double, if not triple, yes,” says Darius Žvironas, Director of the Customs Department.
And the value of the smuggling detained is enormous. Last year, about 60 million cigarettes were seized, and this year, at least for now, that number exceeds 50 million.
Thousands of boxes and bags of smuggled cigarettes in customs warehouses that customs officers managed to seize.
“What we see here is 3.5 thousand boxes of cigarettes stored. That is, there are roughly 10 percent of all cigarettes stored in customs seized, not 10 percent. It can be stored that there are currently over 44 spare cigarettes available. If a container is needed like that, it would be 44 containers of cigarettes, ”explains Arintas Vingrys, Head of the Customs Detained Goods Division.
And although cigarette smuggling transported to Lithuania is not surprising, the smugglers’ ideas about where to hide cigarettes may surprise. Cigarettes are hidden not only by installing hides in car constructions, but often also placed in wood products, insulation boards.
“Probably the most difficult thing was at Kena station, taking it out of the hiding places, when cigarettes were transported in concrete blocks and all those concrete blocks had to be smashed and there was everything in the wagon of those blocks,” says A. Vingrys.
Increasingly, cigarettes are also being hidden in train carriages. Freight locomotives transport fertilizers and lime from Belarus to Lithuania, and it is the boxes that are hidden in them. Experts say such hiding places are further evidence that ordinary criminals are not the only ones doing this. Everything is organized much more seriously.
“In all countries, such as Belarus and Russia, it cannot, in principle, take place without the blessing of the supreme government. Yes, it is necessarily blessed at the Lukashenko level, but there is always a spec associated with it. services, security services, law enforcement bodies and the highest political power of the country, ”comments political scientist Marius Laurinavičius.
And yet, despite the obvious quantities of cigarettes seized, it is possible that Lithuanian officials will be able to seize them even more. But from time to time, more and more important equipment is being ordered – X-ray machines, which scan both trains and trucks. The last X-ray failure was at Raigardas station near Druskininkai.
“We have 7 X-ray machines, most of them old, 8-10 or 7 years old, and we are currently preparing documents for EU funding and will buy another 8 X-ray machines from 2023 to 2027,” says Zviron.
Raigard’s post X-ray was repaired, it didn’t work for about a couple of years. Some people already have various thoughts about how it can be that x-rays keep spoiling and spoiling. Such cases are recorded almost every year.
“Garry Kasparov has released a very winged phrase that I believe in coincidences, but I believe in the KGB even more. Why do we not have a system that would ensure uninterrupted operation of the necessary equipment in such conditions, when we experience a hybrid attack? ”- discusses M. Laurinavičius.
“I really didn’t see such theories of science, the work is done, the purchases are planned a long time ago, they are going on, and that each other’s X-rays are repaired from time to time, because all the equipment is broken from time to time,” says Zviron . .
Customs officials say they are also preparing for cases where trucks or trains Belarusians decide to send not only cigarettes but also migrants, but such cases have not occurred before.