ATHENS, 30 November 2010 – On the basis of operational data gathered during the deployment of the Rapid Border Intervention Teams (RABIT 2010), Frontex estimates that at the end of November 2010 there has been an overall decrease of 43,7% in the number of irregular migrants intercepted at the Greek-Turkish land border, in comparison to the figures for October, when the highest number of arrivals for the year was registered. On October there were 7586 persons detected at the Greek Turkish land border and as of 29 November 4270 had crossed this month.
“It is too early to talk about the impact of the Operation’ – said Frontex Deputy Executive Director Gil Arias Fernandez during a press briefing in Athens – ‘while the decrease may also be due to a number of factors, such as seasonal fluctuations, bad weather conditions or other reasons, it is nevertheless significant”.
The 175 guest officers sent to Greece by Frontex to take part in the operation are under the command and control of the Greek authorities and have been mainly working on patrolling border hot spots and assisting Greece in screening and interviewing, with the aim to determine the nationality of the undocumented persons as well as collecting information about the people-smuggling networks who are behind them.
“Since the start of the RABIT operation, 13 facilitators, coming from Turkey, Afghanistan, Bulgaria, Palestine and Georgia, have been arrested. The vast majority of the detected undocumented persons crossing the border have paid significant amounts of money to facilitators to assist with their journey to Europe” said Gil Arias Fernandez.
“Facilitators lure these desperate people with the promise of an easy crossing and a better life, and charge up to USD 7,500 for a trip from Afghanistan. This is not always the case. Tragically, since the beginning of the year 41 people lost their lives trying to cross the Evros river or the sea in the area of Alexandropouli, many more die as a result of the dangerous forms of transport used by unscrupulous smugglers, others still end up victims of trafficking for the sex trade or in forced labour’ – he added.
Since 2 June, over 33,000 irregular migrants have been detected crossing the Greek-Turkish land border. The largest group (47%) come from Afghanistan. The next largest groups were from Algeria (17%), Pakistan (8%), Somalia (7%) and Iraq (5%). Only a few of those detected consider Greece as their final destination – the vast majority intend to move on to other European countries – with the UK, France, Germany or Italy being the main destinations.