An extra 250 officers to join border force in the next three months, says minister
Greece will increase the number of border guards on the country’s northern border with Turkey amid a rise in undocumented migrants caught crossing the frontier, Citizen Protection Minister Takis Theodorikakos has said.
An additional 250 officers will join the 1,500-strong border force once they have completed training in the next three months, Theodorikakos told Mega TV on Monday morning.
He added that Greece has stepped up procedures to extend a 25-mile (40-kilometre) fence along the Turkish border to prevent migrants from entering the country.
“The fence has proved to be effective in curbing illegal migration,” he said, adding that an average of 1,500 people try to sneak into Greece on a daily basis, often with the encouragement of Turkish authorities.
Theodorikakos said that police have arrested more than 1,200 suspected traffickers in the past nine months.
