Footage Shows Masked Individuals Hired by Greek Police Forcing Migrants Back Across Border
Footage captured masked migrants from Syria, Afghanistan, and Pakistan shouting at children and adults while brandishing weapons near the Evros River. Internal documents indicate Greek police chiefs hired such migrants for pushbacks since 2020. Migrants faced robbery, attacks, and sexual assaults during these operations.
GB News# Masked Migrants Involved in Border Pushbacks Footage captured masked migrants storming through a crowd of migrants near the Evros River on the Greece-Turkey border. The masked migrants originated from Syria, Afghanistan, and Pakistan. They were shouting at children and adults while brandishing weapons and herding the group back across the border into Turkey.
Internal documents detail Greek police chiefs hiring masked migrants for pushbacks since 2020 for six years. The masked migrants received money and mobile phones as recompense, with the mobile phones taken from the migrants being expelled. Migrants being pushed back, sometimes in groups of hundreds each week, were robbed, attacked, and sexually assaulted by the masked migrants.
# Frontex Report Documents Abuse in 2023 Incident Footage from June 2023 showed between 10 and 20 third country nationals under control of Greek police. The Fundamental Rights Office of Frontex found that the migrants in the June 2023 footage were victims of physical and verbal abuse, including death and rape threats and intrusive and sexualised body searches.
Greek officers stated that no migrants from the group shown in the footage were found in that area on June 22, 2023.
# Migrant Accounts of Forced Returns in 2025 Two Syrian migrants told the BBC they were forced back to Turkey across the river in 2025, where they surrendered their phones and IDs. The two Syrian migrants stated they were driven back to the border along with around 20 other migrants and herded by sticks.
A policing insider told the BBC that there is no soldier, police officer, or Frontex officer serving in Evros who does not know that pushbacks are taking place.
# Broader Context of Migrations into Greece More than one million illegal migrants crossed into Greece since 2015 through the land border with Turkey or across the sea. GB News reported on these internal documents and migrant experiences based on BBC-sourced footage and accounts.
Story Timeline
4 events- 2025
Two Syrian migrants forced back to Turkey across Evros River, surrendering phones and IDs, herded by sticks with 20 others
1 sourceBBC via two Syrian migrants - June 2023
Footage shows 10-20 third country nationals under Greek police control, subjected to physical, verbal abuse, death and rape threats, and sexualised searches
1 sourceFundamental Rights Office of Frontex - Since 2020
Greek police chiefs hire masked migrants for pushbacks, providing money and phones taken from expelled migrants
1 sourceBBC internal documents - Since 2015
More than one million illegal migrants cross into Greece via land border with Turkey or sea
1 sourceUnattributed
Potential Impact
- 01
Loss of personal items like phones and IDs for returnees to Turkey
- 02
Ongoing weekly pushbacks of hundreds affecting migration flows from Turkey
- 03
Increased vulnerability to robbery, attacks, and sexual assaults for pushed-back migrants
- 04
Strain on Frontex monitoring and fundamental rights enforcement at borders
- 05
Potential legal scrutiny on Greek police practices since 2020
Multi-source corroboration verifies facts, not framing. This panel scores the Substrate rewrite you just read (top score) and the raw source bundle it came from. A positive delta means the rewrite stripped framing from the sources; a negative or zero delta means our neutralizer let some through.
Greek authorities may be pragmatically enforcing border security against illegal entries, using local incentives to manage overwhelming migration flows without direct involvement.
- Lede misdirectionnotable“TITLE: Footage Reveals Masked Individuals, Hired by Greek Police...”Leads with footage discovery over substantive pushback abusesThe headline leads with who shared, posted, or reacted to the event rather than the substantive event itself — burying the actual news behind the messenger.
- Valence skewnotable“robbed, attacked, and sexually assaulted by the masked migrants”Systematically negative verbs target Greek-hired actorsAdjectives and adverbs systematically slant toward one interpretation even though the underlying facts are neutral.
- Anonymous speculationminor“A policing insider told the BBC that there is no... who does not know”Unnamed insider speculates on widespread official awarenessUnnamed analysts, experts, or critics used to inject predictions or negative-valence claims that aren't sourced to named individuals.
- Omitted counterpointminor“No mention of Greek government denials or border security justifications”Ignores potential official perspective on migration controlA reasonable alternative reading of the facts isn't represented anywhere in the source bundle.
Transparency Panel
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