Tausiūnai drones, September 27, 2026 - 60th intercept of 2026

Border guards brought down two cigarette-carrying drones from Belarus in Šalčininkai District, on the Belarus border south of Vilnius, between late Sunday evening and midnight local time on September 27, 2026, VSAT said. That took the Lithuanian State Border Guard Service's 2026 total to 60, about 12 drones a month since its 35th at Tausiūnai, 63 days earlier. AirVeto's archive now holds six drone events within 8 km of the village since July.

The first drone came down at the edge of a field near Aukštalaukis

Officers from the Purvėnai Border Post, part of VSAT's Varėna Border District, were on duty at the border strip near Tausiūnai village late on Sunday evening. They heard a drone approaching from the Belarusian side. The map pin sits at Tausiūnai, where the guards first picked up the sound. A video surveillance system then caught the aircraft with its cargo.

The officers switched on anti-drone equipment, and the drone changed course and slowly descended over wooded ground. After they cordoned off the area, a search of the Aukštalaukis village surroundings turned up the drone at the edge of a field. A rectangular bundle wrapped in black polyethylene film was fixed to it. The bundle held 250 packs of NZ Gold cigarettes with Belarusian excise stamps. The aircraft was beyond repair: its frame was folded, some propeller blades had snapped and the motor housings were damaged.

A second drone fell inside Eišiškės less than 800 meters from the border

A few hours later, shortly before midnight, another Purvėnai patrol spotted a drone in flight near Eišiškės. Anti-drone equipment brought it down within a few minutes, on the territory of the town, less than 800 meters from the state border.

Guards found it soon afterward with a rectangular bundle in transparent polyethylene film. The bundle held 100 packs of NZ Gold cigarettes, again with Belarusian excise stamps.

The Purvėnai post opened two administrative cases over the acquisition and transport of excise goods in breach of the rules. The drones and the cigarettes are held at the post as ownerless property.

VSAT's 60th drone arrived 63 days after its 35th, which also fell at Tausiūnai

VSAT counts 60 drones intercepted in under nine months of 2026, one more than in all of 2025. The service caught 54 in 2024.

The 35th was the Tausiūnai drone on July 26. The service has added 25 drones in the 63 days since, about 12 a month against about five a month through July.

The 55th was the Daugidonys drone on September 6. Five more have followed in three weeks.

AirVeto's archive holds more drone events around Tausiūnai. Besides those two, it has reconstructed the Prūdelis drone on July 9, the Padvarionys drones on the same day and the Daugidoniai drone on July 12, all within 8 km of the village.

Wind conditions over the Tausiūnai border strip

VSAT's release says "late Sunday evening" and "shortly before midnight", so AirVeto starts its window at 22:00 local time on September 27. At that hour the wind at 500 m blew from the E at 13.2 km/h. At 2,000 m it came from the N at 6.1 km/h. At 3,000 m it also came from the N, at 16.3 km/h.

This reconstruction is based on VSAT's press release of September 28, 2026, and AirVeto's wind-model data for the event window. The model's construction and limits are on the methodology page.

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AirVeto collects Lithuania's drone and contraband incidents at Dronai Lietuvoje (in Lithuanian). The full archive is at the incident archive.