Six people have been arrested in two separate cases for allegedly smuggling migrants who crossed illegally into Greece from Turkey on their way on to Europe’s prosperous heartland, police said Tuesday.
Four arrests were made late Monday in Thessaloniki, where police found nine migrants hidden in a barber’s shop following a tip-off. The suspects were identified as foreign nationals aged 18-27.
Also Monday, police near the northeastern Evros land border with Turkey arrested two Greek men suspected of driving four migrants who had just illegally crossed the frontier towards Thessaloniki.
Tens of thousands of people seeking a better life in the European Union enter Greece illegally every year, usually paying smuggling gangs to be sneaked in. Most then move on to other richer EU countries.
Nearly 1,400 people have crossed the Evros land border so far this year, out of a total of about 5,000 migrants who entered Greece illegally. In the whole of 2025, according to United Nations data, nearly 49,000 people entered the country illegally, about 7,000 of them by land.