A major joint European police operation aimed at tackling illegal migration, planned and overseen by Greece for the first time, was carried out on May 5-11 in the context of the Greek EU Presidency, it was announced on Monday.
The operation code-named “Aerodromos” was held with the participation of 18 EU member-states and 39 international airports, including three airports in Greece: Athens International Airport “Eleftherios Venizelos,” Thessaloniki International Airport “Makedonia” and Corfu International Airport “Ioannis Kapodistrias.”
The participating EU countries were Greece, Austria, Belgium, Germany, Switzerland, United Kingdom, Spain, Italy, Hungary, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Netherlands, Cyprus, Denmark, Bulgaria and Finland.
The objectives of the joint operation were to track and arrest illegal immigrants, to break up criminal groups involved in the facilitation of illegal migration and to collect and analyze information and data for information and preliminary investigation purposes.
Twenty three foreigners of various nationalities were arrested in Greece, 21 of whom had attempted to travel using forged travel documents. Two of them were human traffickers.
An international criminal organization facilitating Albanian nationals to illegally exit Greece, having the United States, Canada, UK and Australia as their destination, were also dismantled in the context of the joint police operation. A total of six people were arrested.
Europol’s support in the processing, assessment and further utilization of the joint police operation results was described as extremely important, while the analysis of the information gathered during the operation will result in additional operational and strategic benefits for law enforcement agencies.
(source: ana-mpa)
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