The migrants, confirmed the Lithuanian Interior Ministry after being contacted by InfoMigrants, were predominantly from Afghanistan, Iraq and Pakistan. Security cameras picked up the arrival of the group of 30 migrants as they emerged from a hole, which linked to a cave dug underground near the village of Baravykinès.

The State Border Guard Service press release described their emergency as "an unusual violation of the state border." One after another in quick succession the migrants emerged from the hole.

Border guards monitoring the security surveillance system informed their colleagues and a large operation was launched, involving border guard officers, dog handlers, a helicopter and drones, as well as some police officers.

The officers then spread out and caught the majority of the migrants "who had dispersed into smaller groups."

This is not the first time that migrants have attempted to cross the Belarus border to Europe via underground tunnels, holes and passages. Another one was discovered last year in Lithuania and several have been found in Poland.

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Traveling onwards towards Western Europe

As well as the group of migrants, border guards said they had also detained three foreigners who were suspected of waiting to transport them to Poland, from where they were reportedly planning to reach a "Western European country, most likely Germany."

One of the three suspects was described as a 35-year-old Ukrainian. When questioned by police, the press release said the man "admitted he had come to pick up illegal migrants." The two other men detained by the border guards, a 41-year-old Georgian and a 24-year-old Ukrainian, were also driving cars.

Border guards said that all three cars were registered in Poland. From interviews with the migrants and analysis of their messaging apps, "it was established that the drivers’ actions were coordinated and that they had received instructions on driving routes and other information in advance."

Search continues for three migrants

By Wednesday evening, border guards said they had detained 27 of the 30 who had crossed the border. Twenty-four of them have already been returned to Belarus, and two were taken for medical treatment due to unspecified "health problems." Although the migrants were classified as coming from Afghanistan, Iraq and Pakistan, "only some of them had personal identification documents," with them.

Also on Monday (April 6), a Lithuanian citizen was caught in the capital Vilnius, transporting six Afghan nationals. Border guards also detained two more suspects in Kalipèda, reported to be from Azerbaijan and Lithuania, who are suspected of being involved in this operation and also "in the organization of other criminal acts related to the transportation of people across the state border."

A pre-trial investigation is now underway, conducted by the border guard unit in Vilnius and headed by a state prosecutor working at the Vilnius Prosecutor’s Office. Investigators suspect those detained of "illegal transportation of people across the state border, of selfish motives and the illegal crossing of the state border." If convicted, the suspects could receive up to eight years in prison.

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Further arrests

On Wednesday (April 8), further arrests were made, this time of a 44-year-old Azerbaijani and a 28-year-old Lithuanian. These two suspects, stated the press release from the border guard, are suspected of being associated with the first border crossing investigation and also other "criminal acts related to the transportation of people across the state border."

The detainees are being held in custody. If convicted, these two could face a term of imprisonment between two and eight years.

The Lithuanian border guards continue their search for the three remaining migrants who crossed on Monday.

Last week, the border guard said it had turned back almost as many migrants in one week (117) as they had in the previous three months combined (135). This suggested an increase in activity at this border with Belarus.

"Recently, migrants trying to sneak out of Belarus are mostly men aged 20-40, physically strong, healthy, often impudent, trying to avoid contact with VSAT [border guard] officers. They do not need help, Lithuania or asylum, that is usually not of interest to such foreigners. Their goal is one -- to illegally get further into Western Europe, most often to Germany," stated the border guard press release.

They added that in several cases recently, the migrants who were caught by border guard threw "stones sticks and cursed at the VSAT officers and their vehicles," echoing similar types of attacks perpetrated on Polish border guard officers.

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Turned back at the border

The Lithuanian State Border Guard updates its website daily as to the numbers of migrants attempting to cross from Belarus both towards Lithuania, but also towards Latvia and Poland. According to them, on April 9, 14 people attempted to cross from Belarus to Lithuania and were denied entry. A total of 108 tried to cross from Belarus to Latvia and were denied entry, and none on that day crossed from Belarus to Poland.

Since the beginning of the year, the Lithuanian border guards say they have prevented 347 migrants from entering from Belarus at unauthorized points. In 2025, they stopped 1,652 migrants from entering from Belarus. Numbers of those crossing have hovered between 1,000 and 2,000 for the last few years, but in 2022, the Lithuanian border guards say they turned back 11,211 migrants who attempted to enter the country from Belarus.

They say that since the beginning of the "migration crisis caused by Belarus, Lithuanian border guards have prevented 24,961 migrants from entering the country illegally."

Lithuania, like its neighbors and the EU, maintains that Belarus and Russia are using migrants as hybrid weapons of war to destabilize Europe. This has been going on since at least 2021, when Belarus began offering visa routes and packages into its capital from countries in the Middle East and Afghanistan, with the promise that migrants could then enter Europe and the EU. After tens of thousands did indeed cross the border that first summer, many of the states bordering Belarus built up fences and surveillance controls, but periodic crossings continue.

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