Updated at 17:53,27-03-2024

Lithuania confirms Belarus law-enforcement official's detention

Euroradio

The head of department at Minsk City Investigation Committee is facing, if convicted, between three to ten years in prison for ammunition smuggling.

Lithuania's Office of Prsecutor General has confirmed the detention on September 21 of Dzmitry Kanaplianik, the head of department at the Minsk City Investigation Committee, reports delfi.lt.

Several dozens 9mm cartdiges were found in his Honda CR-V car. The official statement of Lithuania's Office of Prosecutor General reads that "a high-ranking law-enforcement official from Belarus" arrived in Lithuania in this vehicle. The statement stresses that the Embassy of Belarus in Vilnius was duly informed about the detention of two Belarus nationals and that Belarusian diplomats were allowed to meet with the detainee D.K."

Kanaplianik is suspected of smuggling ammunition. The detainee is unable to leave the territory of Belarus, because his and his wife's IDs are held by Lithuanian authorities.