Greek police using migrants in roundup operations, investigation finds

LONDON: Greek police are coercing asylum seekers into violently pushing back fellow migrants under the promise of temporary shelter, The Guardian reported.
In a joint investigation by the newspaper, together with Le Monde, Der Spiegel, ARD Report Munchen and Lighthouse Reports, evidence was obtained of operations launched by Greek police to transport migrants back to Turkey using threats and violence.
A group of six migrants hailing from Syria and Morocco said that they were recruited by a Syrian national living in a Greek police station. In return for taking part in anti-migrant operations and moving fellow migrants back to Turkey, they were promised police permission to stay for a month in Greece.
Local residents in Greek border villages confirmed that some migrants in the area work for the police, while two Greek officers confirmed the use of migrants in pushback operations.
One of the migrants used by police as part of the larger operation, Bassel, said that he spent three months in a cell before police used his English language skills to blackmail him.
Police threatened him with human smuggling charges and prison time unless he helped them push back other migrants crossing into Greece from Turkey.
“This work is very dangerous, also because of the enmity between the Greeks and the Turks,” he said.
Bassel has since been released and has left the country.
He described his traumatic ordeal as the “stage of slavery.”
Three other Syrians who were detained at a Greek border town said that they had paid $5,300 to be smuggled into the country from Turkey.
Upon arrival, however, they were threatened by a Syrian national into aiding police with violent roundup operations.
One of the Syrians was warned that he would  “vanish” if he returned to Istanbul.