Greek Police Allegations: Migrants Recruited for Violent Border Pushbacks

Tue Apr 14 2026 20:00:34 GMT+0000 (Coordinated Universal Time)

Reports reveal that Greek police have allegedly recruited migrants to forcefully push back others attempting to cross the border from Turkey, leading to serious human rights violations.

A recent investigation unearthed disturbing evidence that Greek police are using recruited migrants as mercenaries to conduct violent pushbacks of fellow migrants at the Turkey-Greece border. These actions allegedly involve serious brutality, including theft and physical abuse, with many being forced back across the border without due process. Despite denials from Greek officials, these claims raise significant concerns about human rights violations in the region.

Police in Greece have been recruiting migrants to violently push other migrants back across its land border with Turkey, according to wide-ranging evidence uncovered by the BBC.

We have seen internal police documents in which guards describe how the recruitment of so-called mercenaries was ordered and overseen by senior officers.

Our findings reveal allegations of brutality, with witnesses reporting migrants being stripped, robbed, beaten and even sexually assaulted. It has been claimed that mercenaries have been unofficially employed on the border since at least 2020.

The Greek prime minister told the BBC he was 'totally unaware' about allegations of the use of migrants for pushbacks, while the country's authorities have not responded to our written detailed requests for comment.

Pushbacks - forcing migrants and asylum seekers back across borders without due process - are generally considered illegal under international law.

Claims that they were being carried out in Greece by foreign masked men were reported in 2022 by the Netherlands-based news organisation, Lighthouse Reports.

Our own investigation - carried out in collaboration with the Consolidated Rescue Group (CRG) - began last autumn, when we were sent disturbing video allegedly showing migrants being mistreated by mercenaries. It was shared with us by a smuggler, who claimed to have become disgruntled with his associates. We have not been able to verify the content but it mirrors accounts we have gathered from other independent sources.

Our investigation revealed alarming details, including that mercenaries are often migrants themselves, coming from countries like Pakistan, Syria, and Afghanistan, and that they can be rewarded with cash and stolen mobiles from other migrants, as well as unofficial papers allowing passage through Greece.

A police source indicated that mercenaries have been involved in pushbacks of hundreds of people a week. '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,' they said.

The evidence suggests an extremely significant abuse of human rights, as Greece grapples with an influx of over a million migrant arrivals since 2015. With rising tensions around the Evros River border, the treatment of migrants continues to raise serious ethical and legal questions.

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