Head of Vilnius mounted constabulary detained in Belarus (photo+video)

Customs officers and KGB members have found amphetamine on him. The officer claims the drugs were placed there stealthily. A political observer Raman Yakauleuski thinks the incident is supposed to delay the signature of the agreement on privilege border traffic between our states (UPDATED). A company commander of Vilnius Chief Commissariat Laimanas Bankauskas has been detained near the Belarusian-Lithuanian border. The officer who was not on duty (he was on vacations) is accused of transporting amphetamine.

KGB members and customs officers took part in the operation. Bankauskas was detained at Ashmyany check-point and delivered to Hrodna confinement cell.

The Vilnius policeman claims the drugs were put on him stealthily.

Lithuanian officials do not believe Bankauskas is guilty

Andrei Elіseyeu
The Lithuanian Ambassador to Belarus Edminas Bagdonas has given an interview to journalists of the Lietuvos rytas TV channel and claimed that he has contacted the detained officer’s relatives:

Bagdonas: "He is accused of having violated a number of articles of the Criminal Code including article #228 – drug trafficking… We will render him all-round consultation assistance, everything appertaining to us. We have contacted his relatives. There are some nuances here too. The relatives we have contacted refuse to admit it. They say that if any [drugs] were really found on him, they had been put there stealthily”.

The head of Vilnius police Kyastutsis Lanchynkas got to know about the incident from Lithuanian journalists. He has also refused to believe that Bankauskas tried to transport drugs: “He is a very good policeman. I can’t believe he was involved in drug trafficking”.

Yakauleuskі: A number of scandals preceded detention of Lithuanian policeman

Zmіtser Lukashuk
The detention of a mounted constabulary officer Laimanas Bankauskas may worsen the Belarusian-Lithuanian relations. An expert in Belarusian-Lithuanian relations Raman Yakauleuski has come to the conclusion in an interview with ERB. He has also drawn attention to a number of recent events.

Yakauleuski: “Let me remind you that information about the detention of a Lithuanian citizen transporting 100 kilos of hashish to Belarus appeared before the today’s news. Somehow, the today’s news concurred with the agreement on oil transit signed by the two states. There is another recent incident – Lithuanian businessmen tried to bribe Belarusian frontier guards. Belarusian mass media exposed the information a lot”.

The expert drew most attention to the issue of signing the agreement on privilege border movement between the two states. In Yakauleuski’s opinion, the scandal connected with the detention of the Lithuanian policeman could help Belarus explain the delay in signing this document.