Euro traffic jam in Vilnius

Wednesday afternoon, during the height of commuter rush hour, Vilnius police cut off traffic on Geležinio Vilko street, one of the arteries of the city. At 5:35 PM, a convoy crossed the Geležinio Vilko bridge, with two trucks under particularly heavy protection: five police cars and two motorcycles at the front and an armoured vehicle, a spare truck, several more police cars and SUVs guarding the back. A Border Guard Service helicopter watched over the convoy from the air.

It later turned out that all this fuss was about the delivery of euro banknotes, flown in from Germany, to the vaults of Lithuania's central bank.

Euro banknotes, supplied by Germany's Bundesbank, were delivered by aircraft to Vilnius from Germany on Wednesday. Prime Minister Algirdas Butkevičius apologized Vilnius residents for massive jams that resulted from traffic restrictions during the rush hour.