A supplier of drones to the Lithuanian military is under investigation amid suspicions that the products may have been made in China, a country that Vilnius regards as “unfriendly”.
“I have asked the Prosecutor General’s Office to open a pre-trial investigation into possible criminal offenses committed during the initiation and execution of the purchase of unmanned aerial vehicles in the autumn of 2024,” Defence Minister Dovilė Šakalienė told reporters in Vilnius on Monday.
“I made this step after I received a letter from the Second Investigation Department [military intelligence], stating that, according to the available data, there are reasonable grounds to suspect that the equipment delivered by the supplier, which is marked as made in Lithuania, may in fact have been manufactured and assembled outside the European Union and NATO, and, to put it bluntly, in countries that are not friendly towards us,” she added. “The origin of the data transmission infrastructure is raising the same suspicion.”
According to the minister, drones used by the country’s defence system must be manufactured in the European Union or NATO and programmed in Lithuania.
The possible offense was committed in the autumn of 2024 when the tender for the drones was announced, the defence minister said, adding that the drones were used by the Lithuanian Riflemen’s Union and the institutions within the national defence system.
15min.lt reported that the drones may have been assembled in China and were sold to the Lithuanian Riflemen's Union and the military by the company Geodezija 3D.
Possible abuse probe
According to Prosecutor General Nida Grunskienė, the pre-trial investigation in this case was opened on March 24 under an article of the Criminal Code that provides for liability for abuse.
“Other pre-trial investigation steps are underway to establish whether a criminal offense has been committed,” Grunskienė told journalists, adding that there are no identified suspects in this case yet.
The top prosecutor also did not name the suspected company or the possible value of the drones.
“As non-public steps were taken, [...], any disclosure of the pre-trial investigation information could undermine the investigation,” she stressed, adding that searches and seizures have already been carried out as part of the investigation.
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