Greek Nationals Smuggle Migrants into Macedonia
When smuggling immigrants, Greek residents avoid the mediators more and more, i.e. and transport the migrants into the country themselves, daily Dnevnik has learnt.
Greece has been facing difficulties with the influx of illegal immigrants from Syria and Afghanistan. Some of the residents of this country, heavily hit by the economic crisis, are making good money with this illegal business, by providing logistical support, transport and shelter for the migrants, services they pay up to several thousands of Euros.
So far, large number of the illegal immigrants discovered in Macedonia, have claimed that they had managed to obtain false papers in Greece. The usual practice included Greek criminal groups carrying illegal migrants to the border with Macedonia, where they would continue on their own or hire local criminals to take them to the border with Serbia.
"According to the registered cases of migrants smuggling, Macedonia mainly remains a transit point, i.e. the migrants have crossed the Greek-Macedonian border illegally, and then hired taxi drivers to take them to the northern border," officials from the Macedonian Interior Ministry say.
The recent two cases discovered by the Macedonian police involving the arrest of two Greek citizens, show that this practice is becoming a huge trend. In two separate operations, the police have also detained a Serbian and a Macedonian citizen. The Interior Ministry has detained 24 illegal migrants, nine from Syria and 15 from Afghanistan.
A Greek national from Katherini (66) and the Serbian resident, as well as the Macedonian from the village of Lojane will be in detention for 30 days the least, whereas the other Greek resident from Thessaloniki will remain in custody for 8 days.
According to the Interior Ministry, the criminals were involved in several cases of smuggling migrants. In the first case, the 66-year-old Greek was arrested at the Kumanovo-Tabanovce highway, heading towards Lojane. When they spotted his BMW, the members of the mobile unit for cross-border criminal have pulled up the car with Greek registration plates. According to the police, the Greek resident was carrying three illegal migrants, citizens of Afghanistan. They did not have any identification documents.
The second case involves a vehicle carrying Greek license plates at the pay toll near Gradsko. The Greek resident was heading from Gevgelija to Skopje, and five illegal migrants were found in his Golf, all of them from Syria.
The villager from Lojane was arrested at the entrance of the village of Recica when he was pulled up and 12 migrants from Afghanistan were discovered in his Volkswagen. The Serbian citizen was caught near Demir Kapija after four illegal Syrians were found in his Peugeot 206.
"Hello, police? Somebody is robbing the illegal migrants!" - was the unusual call received two days ago by the police officers serving at the police station for border surveillance, Mihajlovo. The anonymous caller said that at the very moment, at the overpass near the Dubrovo thermal plant, somebody was robbing migrants.
"A patrol team was sent to the location and after checking the field, near the village of Przdevo, a person matching the description given by the person who made the call was found," interior ministry officials say.
Sixty-six-year-old Z.S. from Negotino was apprehended with EUR 100. After the patrol team had searched the terrain, six Afghan migrants were found, detained and handed over to the police station in Negotino.
- See more at: http://www.independent.mk/articles/13044/Greek+Nationals+Smuggle+Migrants+into+Macedonia#sthash.n0nIQlAb.dpuf
