Jessica Parker and Kostas KallergisBBC News, Evros, Greece
Greek police are recruiting migrants to violently push other migrants across its land border with Turkey, according to extensive evidence uncovered by the BBC.
We have seen internal police documents in which guards describe how the recruitment of so-called mercenaries was ordered and supervised by senior officers.
Our findings reveal allegations of brutality, with witnesses reporting that migrants were stripped, robbed, beaten and even sexually assaulted. It has been claimed that mercenaries have been employed unofficially at the border since at least 2020.
Greece’s prime minister told the BBC he was “completely unaware” of allegations that migrants were being used for pushbacks, while the country’s authorities did not respond to our detailed written requests for comment.
Pushbacks – which force migrants and asylum seekers across borders without due process – are generally considered illegal under international law.
Claims that they were carried out in Greece by foreign masked men were reported in 2022 by the Netherlands-based news agency, Lighthouse reports.
Our own investigation – carried out in collaboration with the Consolidated Rescue Group (CRG) – began last fall, when we received a disturbing video showing migrants being mistreated by mercenaries.
It was shared with us by a smuggler, who claimed to be unhappy with his associates. We have not been able to verify the content, but it reflects testimony we have gathered from other independent sources.
Since then, we have gathered information from migrants, former mercenaries, police sources, official documents and leaked transcripts:
- A border guard told a disciplinary hearing that he had information, reported to his superiors, that mercenaries had raped migrant women.
- Two migrants and an ex-mercenary say they witnessed extreme violence at the hands of mercenaries and Greek police, including people being beaten unconscious.
- Migrant says masked man took off daughter’s diaper in search of valuables
Greece has welcomed more than a million migrants since 2015, mainly by sea, but also along its land border with Turkey.
This border extends 200 km (124 miles) along the Evros River. It marks the outer limit of the European Union, separating the Greek region of Evros and the Turkish territory of Eastern Thrace.
Refugees or illegal migrants crossing the river into Greece enter a heavily militarized restricted zone, dotted with watchtowers.
A police source in the region told us that mercenaries were used to push back up to several hundred people per week.
“There is no soldier, police officer or Frontex (European border agency) agent on duty here in Evros who does not know that pushbacks are taking place,” they added.
We discovered that the mercenaries are migrants themselves, recruited from countries like Pakistan, Syria and Afghanistan, and that they can be rewarded with cash and cell phones looted from other migrants, as well as papers that, in effect, allow passage through Greece.
The BBC saw footage from June 22, 2023 in which a group of migrants, who had just crossed Evros and wanted to seek asylum, were ambushed by masked men.
A report on this incident by the Office for Fundamental Rights, an independent Frontex investigator, found that – based on available evidence – between 10 and 20 “third country nationals” had acted under the instructions of Greek officers.
They said they subjected the migrants to physical and verbal violence, including “threats of death and rape, intrusive and sexualized body searches”, as well as beatings, stabbings, restraining and theft of personal property.
The report said the migrants were then forcibly returned to Türkiye, in violation of European human rights law.
Greek authorities have denied that migrants belonging to this group were found in the area that day.
This is just one of several reports from the Office for Fundamental Rights, investigating allegations of pushbacks involving masked foreign men in recent years.
Our findings could constitute an “extremely significant” violation of human rights, said Maria Gavouneli, chair of the Greek Commission on Human Rights (GNCHR). The organization itself has recorded more than 100 incidents of alleged forced returns to Evros, dating back to 2020.
Although it says cases have declined, dozens of these alleged incidents have involved non-Greek third country nationals – most recently in October 2025.
In a brief exchange with the BBC in March, Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis said he was unaware of the allegations regarding the use of mercenaries.
However, he said Greece was protecting its borders and added that European leaders have made clear they will not repeat the “mistakes” of the past by allowing a “massive influx” of migrants and refugees.
Frontex has rejected any suggestion that it is turning a blind eye to human rights abuses, saying it helps ensure legal border management, while supporting countries in difficulty.
“We couldn’t breathe”
We spoke to two Syrian migrants who say they were forcibly returned to Türkiye, across the Evros River.
Amal (not her real name) showed us videos and documents about her family in Greece, where she had requested asylum.
Her family, she says, was unexpectedly stopped by police in 2025 while walking in the town of Orestiada, north of Evros.
They were handed over to two masked men who demanded they hand over their phones and ID cards before driving them to the border in a windowless white van.
A further search at the river’s edge turned out to be much worse, she said.
“My daughter was wearing a diaper, they took it off,” says Amal. “She was screaming in fear.”
Then, she said, the masked men, who now numbered about seven, herded them and about 20 others onto a track, using sticks to keep them in line.
“As we were walking, there was a young man…they beat him so much that he passed out.”
She said her daughters, who witnessed this, “were in shock, terrified and crying.”
When we meet them in Türkiye, Amal’s youngest daughter is visibly traumatized.
Another Syrian migrant, Ahmad, told us he was beaten unconscious by Greek police after being arrested in Evros.
He says that the next day, he was among dozens of migrants loaded into a truck: “Because of the crowd and the smell, people were suffocating. We couldn’t breathe.
Ahmad says police took the migrants to the Evros River and lined them up in groups. They were then handed over to five or six mercenaries who stripped the men naked and searched them before using sticks to beat anyone who tried to hide money.
The migrants were loaded onto rubber boats, he said, and rowed halfway across the river. He claims that the mercenaries did not dare to go any further, for fear that the Turkish border guards would shoot.
If migrants didn’t jump from the boat, he says, they were thrown out: “The water could wash people away. They didn’t care at all.”
Amal and Ahmad undertook dangerous and illegal journeys to reach Greece, but Ahmad says he, like others, had no choice.
“I was dying slowly in Syria,” he said. “People did not leave their homes without reason: they experienced the worst torture, oppression and injustice.”
“Illegal boatmen”
Allegations that Greek police used mercenaries were made at a 2024 disciplinary hearing, extracts of which were seen by the BBC.
Five border guards await trial for corruption (which they deny). In the excerpts we saw, some openly acknowledged the use of mercenaries, or as they called them, “boatmen.”
A guard told the hearing that in 2020 he was asked to find boatmen to carry out pushbacks because Covid and tensions with Turkish authorities made it more dangerous for police to do the work themselves.
The guard, originally from northern Evros, says his superior mentioned that this system was already in use in the south of the region.
The guards communicated via the messaging app Viber, with a coded phrase to signal plans for pushbacks: “X people in operation by Special Team,” according to testimony.
They also said there were reports that these “illegal migrant boatmen” had “taken migrants into the woods, raped the women and took their money” – a subject they claim to have raised with senior officers.
Separately, the BBC met a lawyer who claims to have filed a complaint with the European Court of Human Rights, on behalf of an Afghan woman who alleges she was raped by a masked man who spoke Farsi, just before a refoulement in 2023.
‘Strength’
Opinions differ as to whether the mercenaries of Evros are recruited voluntarily or under duress.
Marwan (pseudonym), a Moroccan we spoke with in Paris, insists he had no choice but to accept in 2020 and says he felt like a captive.
Emerging from a prison cell full of fellow migrants caught trying to enter Evros, he remembers a Greek officer asking him: “You seem like a nice guy and you speak a little English. Do you want to work with me?”
Marwan says he “felt obligated to say yes” because he was afraid of being beaten.
He found himself in an old prison cell with other mercenaries , led by an Afghan who, he said, resented the Syrians and enjoyed beating them.
Marwan says he spent about 10 weeks working at the border. His tasks included transporting people to Turkey, checking boats for punctures, and burning all of migrants’ personal belongings to “destroy” evidence.
His recruitment manager regularly came by to collect phones or euros, he says. The mercenaries were allowed to keep Arab or Turkish currency.
This officer even offered to take the mercenaries to prostitutes, says Marwan.
He believes he was based around Soufli, a municipality in central Evros: “I heard the Afghans say Soufli several times.”
Marwan says the way the migrants were treated left him “completely destroyed”. He said many of them were thirsty, starving or had rotten feet after their trip to Evros.
The Moroccan is adamant that he never beat anyone, but claims to have witnessed frequent violence at the hands of Greek officers and mercenaries – the worst being on the banks of the Evros River.
When asked about his complicity in the alleged operation, Marwan said: “I am deeply sorry… I was threatened.”
Provided to BBC
Further evidence that migrant mercenaries are operating in the Evros area comes from a photo shown to us of a group of masked men in civilian clothes inside a van. The photo was shared by the smuggler who sent us the video of migrants being mistreated.
We can’t say with certainty that all of the men pictured are mercenaries, but the way they are dressed is remarkable and facial recognition technology reports an average match of 90% between the individual on the right and four images of a Syrian known as “Mike.” According to several sources, he is a former leading mercenary. Five people have confirmed Mike’s identity to the BBC and he is mentioned in internal police documents.
When we contacted Mike through a social media account, he did not respond personally, but we received a letter from his lawyer warning against publishing his image and “unproven” allegations.
Names have been changed to protect identities.
Additional research by Paul Brown at BBC Verify and Serene Muhammed at BBC Arabic
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