Border guards found to be on the take

Five officers from the Didymoteicho Border Guard Department in northeastern Greece were arrested on Monday after a five-month investigation and charged with smuggling migrants from Turkey, authorities announced on Tuesday.

Their activity is estimated to have started in October 2022 at the latest, with the investigation finding that in at least 12 cases they helped, in return for payment, undocumented immigrants cross into Greece.

Over 26,000 euros in cash were found in their homes (most of it in the house of one of them) as well as US dollars, Turkish lira and banknotes from Asian countries. The officers formed a "special control group" and carried out patrols along the Greek-Turkish border, always under the same composition.

Even in cases where the officers were absent from duty, for example due to sick leave, they made sure that they participated in the...