Feared jihadist stuck in Evros
A man believed to be linked to the Islamic State terrorist organization was late on Monday stranded in the buffer zone on the Greek-Turkish border, according to reports.
In a statement, the Greek Police (ELAS) said that a US citizen of Arab origin was brought to a Greek border post by Turkish officers who cited the expiry of his visa and asked Greek authorities to take him in.
The suspect, however, said he did not wish to enter Greece and was escorted back to Turkey, ELAS said. Later in the day, the man returned alone to the Greek border post near the village of Kastanies and asked to enter Greece but was turned back by Greek border guards, according to the statement by ELAS.
A search of ELAS databases and those of other countries with which it cooperates did not point to the suspect’s involvement in any cases of international terrorism, Kathimerini understands.
However, according to Turkish media, the man is a jihadist who was arrested by Turkish forces in northern Syria and had been slated for deportation to the US.
The development came as Turkey announced that it had deported two alleged members of IS – a German and an American – as part of an initiative to repatriate Islamic State detainees.
