The Greek police announced they had dismantled an international crime gang focused on smuggling migrants through the country. Raids took place last week in the capital Athens and more details emerged over the weekend.
The Greek Financial Police Directorate carried out raids in part of the Greek capital Athens on Wednesday (July 20), announced a report published Friday on the English speaking version of the Greek newspaper Ekathimerini.
More details about the raids emerged over the weekend. According to Greek police, the alleged smuggling organization "systematically transported migrants into Greece illegally, placing them in apartments in the center of Athens and then forwarding them, for a fee, to other European destinations," reported Ekathimerini.
Nine foreign nationals have been arrested on suspicion of being members of the gang and three migrants too.
Similar recent cases
The English-language newspaper Greek Reporter added that similar cases against an additional 19 people were also filed.
According to the UN refugee agency UNHCR, 6,171 migrants have arrived in Greece since the beginning of 2022. The figures were last updated on July 17. The majority arrived by sea from the Turkish coast (3,388) and slightly fewer (2,783) arrived by land over the Evros river border, also from Turkey.
The UN data shows that people from a variety of different states, classified as 'others' form the majority of this year's arrivals (33%), followed by 31% saying they are from the "State of Palestine," and 8.7% from Afghanistan and 8.5% from Somalia. Nationals from the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Syria, Iran, Cameroon, Pakistan, Iraq and Kuwait are all in the top 12 of arrivals.
'Our goal is to fight illegal migration'
In mid-June, Greek newspapers reported a similar raid by police, also in Attica, a central neighborhood of Athens. The European crime agency Europol sometimes helps with these raids.
In June, the Greek Minister for Citizens’ Protection, Takis Tehodorikakos, told the local portal Athens News that "we are intensifying special police operations with the participation of all Greek police units both in the center and in the vicinity of Athens and Thessaloniki. Our goal is to fight illegal immigration, human trafficking and, of course, the spread of drugs. This is a way to steadily increase the sense of security of citizens."
Athens News added that operations were expected to continue as "part of special ooperational planning in various areas of Attica and [Greece’s second city] Thessaloniki."