Greece faces explosive accusations of hiring migrant “mercenaries” to brutally push fellow migrants back across its tense border with Turkey, according to Hurriyet Daily News. A powerful BBC investigation, released April 14 and backed by the Consolidated Rescue Group, paints a grim picture of violence unfolding in the rugged Evros region since at least 2020.
According to leaked internal police documents and eyewitness accounts, senior Greek officers have allegedly recruited migrants themselves; often from Pakistan, Syria, and Afghanistan, to do the dirty work. These so-called mercenaries are said to strip, rob, beat, and even sexually assault desperate arrivals, forcing them back without any chance to seek asylum. One haunting video first tipped off investigators, later confirmed by stories from victims, ex-mercenaries, police insiders, and secret transcripts.
“It’s heartbreaking,” a regional police source told the team. “No soldier, cop, or Frontex guard in Evros doesn’t know pushbacks happen hundreds shoved back weekly.” Rewards for the mercenaries? Cash, stolen phones, and fake papers to slip through Greece themselves.
Pushbacks like these shatter international law, denying basic asylum rights. Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis told the BBC he was “totally unaware,” while officials stayed silent on detailed questions.
Since 2015, Greece has shouldered over a million migrant arrivals, many risking the Aegean Sea or the militarized Evros River frontier, Europe’s eastern edge. The revelations cast a long shadow over a nation under immense strain, where human desperation collides with border security in the most brutal ways.
