Border guards have unearthed a 3km pipeline used for smuggling liquor from neighbouring Belarus where it can be purchased much more cheaply.

A guards' spokesman said it was the fourth such pipeline to be found but this one was of record length.

Correspondents say price increases which followed Lithuania's EU accession in May prompted a rise in smuggling.

Moonshine from Belarus is commonly found on the Baltic nation's black market.

There has been no news of any arrests in connection with the find, and it is not clear how the alcohol was pumped through the pipe.

The thin pipe ran just a few centimetres beneath the ground, under several roads and a riverbed, and ended next to a Lithuanian's private home in the village of Eisiskiai.