Five Greek police officers in custody pending trial for assisting illegal migrant crossings

Five police officers accused of cooperating with human traffickers to facilitate the entry of at least 100 migrants into Greece are being held in custody pending trial.

The five officers had been testifying before an examining magistrate since Saturday morning at the border town of Orestiada, in northeastern Greece.

Agents from the internal affairs division of the Greek police had been monitoring the five officers, who serve in a special border guard unit, since October 2022. They also listened into their phone conversations, whose transcripts run into over 2,000 pages. The officers had aroused suspicion by volunteering to patrol at certain times, together.

Authorities say the officers facilitated at least 12 border crossings, collaborating with four traffickers of undetermined nationality who operated from Turkey.

Authorities allege that the accused...