According to the sources, a scuffle occurred between Lithuanian border guards and a group of illegal migrants that had exited a tunnel dug under the border. They said that during the scuffle migrants attempted to drag one border guard back to Belarus together with them. However, the officer managed to free himself and escape.
Vitalijus Jagminas, chairman of the Trade Union of Vilnius County Pre-trial Investigation Institutions, told the news website that the officer was injured and is now on sick leave.
Representative of the State Border Guard Service (VSAT), Lina Laurinaitytė, told ELTA that the agency does not comment the situation while pre-trial investigations are ongoing into the aforementioned incident.
News website delfi.lt reported that the incident happened on 26 July in the area overseen by Kapčiamiestis Frontier Station. A group of illegal migrants attempted to cross from Belarus to Lithuania through an underground tunnel dug under the border.
VSAT officers who discovered the tunnel were detaining several migrants as they exited it, but were then assaulted by 20 more migrants that emerged from the tunnel.
The incident was not immediately reported. It was revealed to the public on social platform Facebook by Vilma Danauskienė, a member of Lazdijai District Municipal Council.
In her post, she asked VSAT Commander General Rustamas Liubajevas why just four officers were sent to face off against more than 20 migrants “armed with sticks and stones”.
Minister of the Interior Martynas Katelynas said he was informed about the incident but not to full extent as he was simply told that digging of a tunnel was prevented.
After the incident was reported, an internal investigation was launched into the actions of the VSAT leadership.
On 27 July, a pre-trial investigation was opened into unlawful crossing of the state border.