Greek police 'using masked migrants to push illegal arrivals back across border into Turkey'

Susanna Siddell
Tue, 14 Apr 2026 20:27:17 +0000

Greek police have been accused of secretly using masked migrants to push illegal arrivals back across the border into Turkey.

Shocking footage captured the moment a gang of "migrant mercenaries" stormed through a crowd of worried-looking migrants on the border, close to the Evros River.

The "mercenaries" - coming from Syria, Afghanistan and Pakistan - appear to be indiscriminately shouting at children and adults while brandishing weapons while herding the group back across the border into Turkey.

The BBC investigation exposed internal documents which detail top Greek police chiefs allegedly hiring these "mercenaries" for six years since 2020.

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In exchange, the mercenaries are believed to be recompensed with money and mobile phones, which are often thieved from the very migrants they are expelling from Greece.

The broadcaster also reported that such work for the Greek police could also lead to documents allowing travel through the country.

The migrants being pushed back - sometimes in the hundreds each week - often become victims of the mercenaries' brutality, being robbed, attacked and sexually assaulted.

Since 2015, more than one million illegal migrants made the crossing into Greece, whether this is through the land border with Turkey or across the sea.

The route through Greece is particularly popular, often treated as a gateway to the rest of Europe, including France, Germany and the UK.

The Greek Prime Minister has insisted he was "totally unaware" of the claims made by the BBC.

A policing insider told the BBC: "There is no soldier, police officer or Frontex (EU border agency) officer serving here in Evros who does not know that pushbacks are taking place."

The footage unveiled by the broadcaster, from June 2023, was subsequently assessed by the Fundamental Rights Office - an internal body within Frontex - which found between 10 and 20 "third country nationals" wre under control of Greek police.

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The report also found the migrants were victims of physical and verbal abuse, receiving "death and rape threats, intrusive and sexualised body searches".

Such "pushbacks" being carried out by the mercenaries are violations of international and human rights laws, as well as European humanitarian law.

Nevertheless, Greek officers have said that no migrants from the group shown in the footage from June 22 2023 were found in that area on that day.

Two Syrian migrants told the BBC they were forced back to Turkey across the River, recounting the event from 2025 where they were forced to surrender their phones and IDs.

Then, they were driven back to the border, they said, along with around a group of 20 migrants.

They even claimed the group was being herded by sticks.

Another migrant said he wa strip-searched for cash by the masked mercenaries.

The migrants are then believed to be loaded onto small rubber dinghies and sent back across the river.