A barbed-wire fence running along a 12.5-kilometer (7.76-mile) stretch of land border between Greece and Turkey is expected to be finished and operational by mid-December in a bid to keep out illegal immigrants, sources at the Public Order Ministry told the Athens newspaper Kathimerini.
The fence, under construction since the summer, has already had a huge impact on the influx via the land border with illegal arrivals down by 95%, according to border guards. The police force at the border, currently 1,900-strong, is to be whittled down to half its size, sources said.
However, the sharp drop in undocumented immigrants entering Greece through Evros has been accompanied by a renewal in the illegal influx via the islands of the Aegean. From the beginning of the year until the end of July, police and coast guard officers on the Aegean islands detained 102 undocumented migrants while more than 10 times that number – 1,536 – were intercepted over the following three months.
(Source: ANSA)
See all the latest news from Greece and the world at Greekreporter.com. Contact our newsroom to report an update or send your story, photos and videos. Follow GR on Google News and subscribe here to our daily email!
