Lithuanian authorities suspended operations at the country's main airport in Vilnius on Tuesday night, after dozens of smugglers' balloons entered its airspace, the country's National Crisis Management Center (NCMC) said in a statement.

"Operations have been disrupted due to weather balloons used to smuggle cigarettes from Belarus," the NCMC said, asking passengers to follow official airport information.

Eight incoming flights have so far been redirected, including to Lithuania's Kaunas airport and to Warsaw, the Vilnius airport's operator said.

Lithuania closes border crossings with Belarus

Later, and into the early hours of Wednesday morning, Lithuania closed its border crossing points with Belarus in response to the balloons entering its airspace, the country's National Crisis Management center said.

The decision to close the border "will be reviewed once the airport is reopened," Vilmantas Vitkauskas, head of the center, told reporters.

Vilnius airport suspends operations for second time this month

The incident marks the second time this month that Vilnius airport has been forced to suspend operations because of balloons having entered its airspace.

On October 5, balloons drifted across the border from Belarus, delaying some 30 flights and affecting 6,000 passengers for hours.

After Lithuania built a border fence with Belarus and closed some crossings last year, smuggling across land became virtually impossible.

Smugglers have now taken it up to the skies instead, employing drones and weather balloons, Bloomberg News reported earlier this month.

The incidents also come with Europe on heightened alert following multiple recent incursions by drones and aircraft into NATO airspace in September.

Edited by: Karl Sexton