According to the department, the software concerned was seized during an attempt to export it to the United Arab Emirates without the required documents.
The consignor of goods – an Irish company – initially failed to submit an export license of the required form to the customs during export clearance procedures in Lithuania, the department said.
The license demanded by the department was subsequently handed in after the deadline but the data provided in the document looked suspicious to customs officers – even though the software was being dispatched to the UAE, its final consignee was in Uzbekistan.
“The risk that the goods may be diverted to another country via the UAE was also confirmed by the fact that their intermediate consignee in the United Arab Emirates is a free economic zone (FEZ),” the department said in a press release.
According to the department, the final consignee of goods may change as a result of trade transactions carried out within free economic zones, hence the goods may be diverted to the countries or regions that are considered dangerous by the international community, develop programs of weapons of mass destruction or support terrorist groups.
The Lithuanian Customs Department has launched an international probe of this case.