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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.
Apr 14, 4:27 PM·1m read1 source
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# 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.
