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Five Greek police officers have been accused of collaborating with human traffickers to facilitate migrants entering Greece. (Source: Reuters) |
Agents from the Greek police's internal affairs department have been monitoring the five officers, who serve in a special border unit, since October 2022.
They also listened to these people's phone conversations, whose transcripts are more than 2,000 pages long.
Authorities said officers had "joined hands" with four people smugglers of unknown nationality operating from Türkiye, facilitating at least 12 border crossings, bringing at least 100 people into Greece.
The officers are accused of taking a cut of the money smugglers receive from migrants to smuggle them across the border. During arrests last week in the border town of Didymoteicho, police seized about 26,000 euros ($28,000) in cash and nearly 60 mobile phones.
These people are currently being held pending trial.
Despite efforts to crack down on smuggling networks at land and sea borders, thousands of migrants still arrive in Greece every year.
As patrols in the Aegean Sea have increased, the migration route to the Greek islands has become more difficult, with migrants turning to the Evros River and traveling overland to Greece.
Greece has built a high fence along much of its border to stop migrants from crossing and is planning to extend it further.
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