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The Hellenic Police are expanding the “Shield” police operation in Rodopi prefecture, in response to the increasing number of arrests of illegal immigrants, not only in Evros but also in Komotini. According to fully confirmed information from “K”, for a few days 20 police officers who acted as seconded to the Border Guard departments of the Evros prefecture moved to Rodopi, while another 65 officers were assigned to the same area. police of various services and areas of northern Greece. A total of 85 uniforms have already been assigned to support the Sapa and Jasmos Border Guard Departments. The secondments have a limited duration and after the end of one month, the police officers who move to Rodopi will be replaced by others.
“The relocation of the comrades will give encouragement to the police services of our prefecture and relieve them of the already overloaded police functions,” the president of the Rodopi Police Officers Association, Panagiotis Machairidis, told the local press. Communication from Deputy Minister of Civil Protection Lefteris Oikonomou with Rodopi deputy from New Democracy, Evripidis Stylianidis.
Operation “Shield”, ie the deployment of police officers for the surveillance needs of the land border between Greece and Turkey in Evros, started in the period 2013-2014 and continues to this day. In the first years of its implementation, up to 2,000 police officers participated, however, in the following period, the number of assigned police officers followed a decreasing course. The exception was, of course, the period from March to May 2020, as amid incidents at the Kastania border station, hundreds of policemen from northern Greece and Attica moved to Evros. Today, according to the vice president of the Panhellenic Federation of Border Guards, 195 policemen are taking part in the “Shield” operation in Evros.
Senior officer of EL.AS. He told “K” that the decision to expand the company in Komotini was dictated by the increase in the number of illegal immigrants located in the mountains and on the Rodopi prefectural road network. These are foreigners who, having managed to enter the country and not be located by the police in Evros, are trying to continue their journey inland.
A glance at the recently recorded cases is enough to confirm the veracity of the matter. On the morning of September 26, for example, police officers from the Sapa Border Guard Department arrested a Greek man on the Megalo Derio – Nea Santa provincial highway who was transporting six illegal immigrants hidden in his car.
Twenty-four hours later, four Greeks were found transporting six illegal immigrants hiding in two villages. They were persecuted in Egnatia Odos, in the section that connects Komotini with Xanthi, and finally they were arrested. A similar incident occurred on the night of September 29, when a Greek trafficker was seen on a provincial road in Rodopi prefecture transporting two illegal immigrants in his car. He was arrested after being pursued by police officers from the Sapes Department.
