A meteorological balloon landed in Boćki near Olszew on Wednesday morning with an attached package, sparking a probe into its contents after another balloon hit Białystok’s outskirts an hour later.
Balloon Lands with Unknown Package in Boćki
At about 4:00 a.m. on Wednesday, a meteorological balloon landed in the Boćki municipality near Olszew in Podlaskie, carrying a package. Investigators are now determining its contents. Roughly half an hour later, a second balloon landed on the outskirts of Białystok, on Lodowa Street in the Zawadi district.
Series of Similar Incidents Reported in the Region
On Saturday 4 October, police in the area found a balloon near Ożynnik close to Białystok, noting it had 1,750 packages of cigarettes without Polish excise stamps. Earlier weeks saw similar findings in Jałówka, Sokole, and Straszewo.
Border Guard Seizures Reveal Smuggling via Balloons
According to a Border Guard statement on 29 September, the only findings on the 27–28 September weekend in Polish territory were packages containing illegal cigarettes from Belarus worth nearly 185,000 PLN, transported by meteorological balloons. The Border Guard is continuing to investigate other parties involved in sending and receiving these shipments. At the beginning of the year, the Podlaskie Border Guard Office logged over 100 incidents of excise‑goods smuggling via balloons, with seized cigarettes valued at more than 2.5 million PLN.
