Border checks aim to stop jihadists
The Greek Police (ELAS) and the country’s National Intelligence Service (EYP) are on the alert amid fears that jihadists are slipping into the country in a seemingly relentless influx of undocumented immigrants via Greece’s land and sea borders and inspectors have been posted at key entry points to intercept suspects, Kathimerini understands.
Officials with training in matters of international terrorism from both ELAS and EYP have been stationed in recent days on the eastern Aegean islands of Lesvos and Chios and at the Kipoi border crossing in Evros, Kathimerini has learned.
Last week, coast guard officials traced a Syrian national whose cell phone was found to contain photographs of guns and explosives from battlefields in the war-torn country.
Although the suspect allegedly claimed to oppose the Assad regime, no evidence was found linking him to Islamic State activities in Syria, source said.
Also last week, an 18-year-old Albanian national who was stopped at the Greek-Albanian border allegedly admitted, under interrogation by counterterrorism officers in Albania, that he had intended to travel to Syria.
