Greece’s police recruited migrants to violently push other migrants back across the Evros border with Turkey, according to a BBC report based on internal police documents, witness testimony and leaked transcripts.
According to the report, border guards described in internal police material how senior officers ordered and oversaw the recruitment of so-called “mercenaries,” who were themselves migrants, mainly from Pakistan, Syria and Afghanistan, and whom Greek authorities allegedly used to carry out pushbacks in the Evros region.
Some recruits received cash, mobile phones taken from other migrants, or documents that effectively allowed them to pass through Greece, while others said authorities forced them into the role.
Alleged use of migrant “mercenaries” in the Evros region of Greece dates back to at least 2020
The report said that the alleged use of migrant “mercenaries” at the Evros border dates back to at least 2020. The investigation, carried out with the Consolidated Rescue Group, began last autumn after the broadcaster received disturbing video from a smuggler who said he had grown disillusioned with his associates.
The BBC said it could not independently verify the footage. Still, it reported that the video closely matched accounts from other sources. Those sources included migrants, former mercenaries, police contacts, official documents and leaked testimony.
Greece has recorded well over one million migrant arrivals since 2015. Most arrived by sea, though many also crossed through the land border with Turkey. The Evros frontier runs for 200km along the Evros River and forms part of the European Union’s outer border. It separates Greece’s Evros region from Turkey’s East Thrace.
One police source in the region told the broadcaster that mercenaries had pushed back hundreds of people a week. The same source said every soldier, police officer and Frontex officer serving in Evros knew pushbacks were taking place.
Migrants describe violence, humiliation and sexual abuse
The BBC investigation includes detailed allegations of brutality during these operations. Witnesses said masked men stripped migrants of their belongings, beat them and humiliated them. Some said attackers beat victims until they lost consciousness. The testimony gathered by the broadcaster also includes allegations of sexual violence.
One border guard told a disciplinary hearing, according to the BBC, that officials had received information that mercenaries were raping female migrants. The guard said they had reported the matter to superiors.
Among the accounts cited is Amal, a Syrian migrant whose family had applied for asylum in Greece. She told the BBC that police detained her family in 2025 while they were walking through Orestiada in northern Evros. She said officers then handed them over to masked men, who took their phones and identity papers before driving them to the border in a windowless white van.
At the river, Amal said, the abuse worsened. She told the BBC that masked men removed her daughter’s diaper while searching for valuables. She also described seeing a young man collapse after a beating as a group of about 20 people moved toward the river under threats and blows from sticks.
Frontex report details abuse in June 2023 incident
The report also cites a report by the Fundamental Rights Office, an independent watchdog inside Frontex, into an incident on June 22, 2023. According to the broadcaster, footage showed masked men ambushing a group of migrants who had crossed into Evros and wanted to claim asylum.
The Frontex office reportedly found that, based on the available evidence, between 10 and 20 “third-country nationals” were acting under the instruction of Greek officers. The report says the men subjected migrants to physical and verbal abuse, including death threats, rape threats, intrusive and sexualized body searches, beatings, stabbings, restraint and theft of personal property.
Frontex report concluded that the group was then forcibly returned to Turkey in violation of EU human rights law. Greek authorities denied that any migrants from that group were present in the area on that day.
Hearing testimony points to organized coordination
The BBC further reports that allegations about police use of mercenaries surfaced in a 2024 disciplinary hearing involving five border guards who are awaiting trial on corruption charges. The guards deny those charges.
In excerpts seen by the broadcaster, some guards openly referred to the mercenaries as “boatmen.” One guard said that in 2020 his superiors instructed him to find boatmen to carry out pushbacks because Covid restrictions and tensions with Turkish authorities made the job riskier for police themselves. He also said the system was already operating in southern Evros.
According to the BBC, hearing testimony showed that guards communicated through the Viber messaging app. They allegedly used the coded phrase “X persons to the operation by Special Team” to signal a pushback. Witnesses also said officers had information that these “illegal migrant boatmen” were taking migrants into the woods, raping women and stealing money. According to the testimony, officials raised those allegations with higher-ranking officers.
Former recruit says police gave him no real choice
The BBC spoke to a Moroccan man identified as Marwan, who said police recruited him in 2020 after taking him from a jail cell full of migrants caught entering Evros. He recalled a Greek officer asking whether he wanted to work with him.
Marwan said he felt he had no real choice. He said he feared a beating if he refused. He told the broadcaster that he lived in an old prison cell with other mercenaries and spent about 10 weeks working at the border.
His tasks, he said, included ferrying migrants back to Turkey, checking boats for punctures and burning leftover belongings to destroy evidence. He also alleged that the recruiting officer collected phones and euros from the group and even offered to take the mercenaries to prostitutes. Marwan said he believed he was based around Soufli in central Evros.
Although he insisted he never beat anyone, Marwan told the BBC that he often witnessed violence by both mercenaries and Greek officers, especially near the river. He said the treatment of migrants left him “completely destroyed.”
Greece denies knowledge of alleged use of migrants in Evros as pressure grows
Greece’s Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis told the BBC in March that he was “totally unaware” of allegations that migrants were being used in pushbacks. At the same time, he said Greece was protecting its borders. He also argued that European leaders were determined not to repeat what he described as past mistakes that had allowed a massive influx of migrants and refugees.
Frontex rejected suggestions that it turns a blind eye to rights violations. The agency told the broadcaster that it works to help ensure lawful border management while supporting countries under pressure.
Maria Gavouneli, president of Greece’s National Commission for Human Rights, told the BBC that the findings could amount to an “extremely significant” abuse of human rights. According to the report, the commission has documented more than 100 alleged forced returns in Evros since 2020. It also says that while cases have declined, dozens involved non-Greek third-country nationals, most recently in October 2025.
Greece’s ministry of Citizen protection rejects the allegations of migrants’ pushbacks in Evros
After publication of the investigation, sources at Greece’s Ministry of Citizen Protection rejected claims that mercenaries acting under police orders pushed back refugees and migrants at the country’s land border with Turkey. “The protection of the country’s borders is carried out within the framework of international, EU and national law, with full respect for fundamental rights and human dignity,” ministry sources said.
According to the same sources, the allegations cited in the report and linked to incidents said to have taken place under the caretaker government in 2023 “are based primarily on testimonies and secondary material, which cannot be verified.”
The sources added that Greek authorities have repeatedly responded to similar claims in recent years “with clarity and documentation.” They argued that comparable reports and publications rely mainly on testimony and secondary evidence that cannot be independently confirmed. They also said assessments often rest on converging complaints rather than demonstrable proof.
The sources concluded that migration management remains a complex challenge, especially in high-pressure areas such as the European Union’s external borders. They said Greece continues to meet that challenge while upholding legality and its international obligations. They also said the competent authorities remain available to provide evidence and assist any institutional process aimed at ensuring transparency and an objective assessment of the facts.
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