Police authorities in Greece are accused of recruiting migrants to forcibly return other migrants across the country’s land border with Turkey, according to BBC.
Internal police documents reviewed during the investigation indicate that the enlistment of so-called mercenaries was directed and supervised by senior officers.
The findings outline serious allegations of abuse, with witnesses describing incidents in which migrants were stripped, robbed, beaten, and in some cases sexually assaulted. Reports suggest that such unofficial practices involving recruited migrants may have been ongoing since at least 2020.
Greece’s prime minister told the BBC he was “totally unaware” of claims that migrants were being used in pushback operations. Authorities in the country have not responded to detailed written requests for comment submitted as part of the investigation.
Pushbacks — the act of forcing migrants and asylum seekers back across borders without legal procedures — are widely regarded as illegal under international law. Earlier reports in 2022 by Lighthouse Reports, a Netherlands-based news organisation, had already raised concerns about foreign masked individuals allegedly carrying out such operations in Greece.
The BBC’s investigation, conducted in partnership with the Consolidated Rescue Group (CRG), began last autumn after journalists received disturbing video footage purportedly showing migrants being abused by mercenaries. The footage was provided by a smuggler claiming to have fallen out with associates. While the video itself has not been independently verified, it reflects testimonies gathered from multiple sources.
Subsequent inquiries combined accounts from migrants, former mercenaries, police insiders, official documents, and leaked transcripts. Among the claims, a border guard told a disciplinary hearing they had reported information to superiors that mercenaries were raping female migrants. Additional testimonies from two migrants and a former mercenary described severe violence carried out by both mercenaries and Greek police, including beatings that rendered victims unconscious. One migrant alleged that a masked man removed her daughter’s nappy while searching for valuables.
Since 2015, Greece has recorded over a million migrant arrivals, primarily by sea but also through its land border with Turkey. The 200km frontier along the Evros River marks the European Union’s external boundary, separating Greece’s Evros region from Turkey’s East Thrace. Migrants crossing into Greece enter a highly militarised zone monitored by watchtowers.
A police source in the region claimed that mercenaries are used to push back hundreds of migrants each 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,” the source said.
Investigators found that the individuals acting as mercenaries are themselves migrants, often from countries such as Pakistan, Syria, and Afghanistan. They are allegedly incentivised with cash, confiscated mobile phones, and documents that effectively permit movement within Greece.
Footage dated 22 June 2023, reviewed by the BBC, appears to show migrants who had just entered the Evros region seeking asylum being intercepted by masked men. A subsequent report by the Fundamental Rights Office, an independent body within Frontex, concluded that between 10 and 20 “third-country nationals” were operating under the direction of Greek officers.
According to the report, the migrants were subjected to physical and verbal abuse, including “death and rape threats, intrusive and sexualised body searches,” alongside beatings, stabbings, restraint, and theft of belongings. The migrants were then forcibly returned to Turkey, in breach of EU human rights law. Greek authorities have denied that any migrants from the group were present in the area on that date.
The Fundamental Rights Office has produced multiple reports in recent years examining similar allegations involving masked foreign individuals participating in pushbacks. Maria Gavouneli, president of Greece’s human rights commission (GNCHR), described the BBC’s findings as potentially constituting an “extremely significant” violation of human rights. The commission has documented more than 100 alleged forced return incidents in the Evros region since 2020, with some involving non-Greek nationals as recently as October 2025.
In a brief exchange with the BBC in March, Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis reiterated that he was unaware of claims regarding mercenary involvement. He defended Greece’s border policies, stating that European leaders were determined not to repeat past “mistakes” by allowing a “massive influx” of migrants and refugees.
Frontex has denied ignoring potential rights violations, maintaining that its role is to support lawful border management while assisting countries facing migratory pressure.
The BBC also spoke with two Syrian migrants who alleged they were forcibly returned to Turkey via the Evros River. Amal (not her real name) provided videos and documentation indicating that her family had applied for asylum in Greece. She claims they were detained by police in 2025 while walking through Orestiada in northern Evros.
According to Amal, the family was handed over to masked men who demanded their phones and identification before transporting them in a windowless van to the border. She described a more invasive search at the river, stating: “My daughter was wearing a diaper, they took it off. She was screaming in fear.”
Amal said the group, which grew to around seven masked men, forced them and about 20 others to walk along a track while being struck with sticks. “As we were walking, there was a young man… they beat him so much that he fainted,” she recounted, adding that her daughters were left “in a state of shock, terrified, crying.”
When later interviewed in Turkey, Amal’s youngest child appeared visibly traumatised.
Another Syrian migrant, Ahmad, alleged that Greek police beat him until he lost consciousness after detaining him in Evros. He said he was later transported with dozens of others in overcrowded conditions: “Because of the crowding and the smell, people were suffocating. We couldn’t breathe.”
Ahmad claimed the migrants were eventually taken to the Evros River, grouped, and handed over to several mercenaries who stripped and searched them, beating those suspected of concealing money. He said the group was then forced into rubber boats and taken partway across the river.
According to Ahmad, those who refused to jump into the water were pushed out: “The water could sweep people away. They didn’t care at all.”
Both Amal and Ahmad acknowledged undertaking dangerous and irregular journeys to reach Greece. However, Ahmad insisted that such risks were unavoidable for many fleeing conflict. “I was dying slowly in Syria,” he said. “People didn’t leave their homes for no reason – they lived through the worst torture, oppression, and injustice.”
