According to the State Border Guard Service, the smugglers jumped off the moving vehicle, and the unmanned van hit a well near a private property damaging it. One resident of the southern resort of Druskininkai was detained, the Service said.
The incident took place at around 2 AM on Monday approximately 500 meters from the Belarusian border ear the village of Strežiūnai, Varėna District. Border guards spotted the Peugeot Boxer without lights on and ordered the driver to stop. But he refused and speeded up. Border guards started chasing the vehicle. Eventually the smugglers realized they were not going to escape and three men jumped off the moving van and started running. One of the men, 28, was detained.
A pre-trail investigation has been launched.
All in all, Lithuanian border guards have detained 1.32 million smuggled cigarette packs this year, 300,000 more that that during the same period last year.
