The Turkish coastguard has intercepted hundreds of migrants on the way to Greece in seven overnight operations on Saturday. 330 people were detained by security forces, state news agency Anadolu reported.
The refugee crisis in Greece continues as EU border agency Frontex announced that the flow of people into some parts of the country has increased by a quarter compared to last year.
A year after it reached an agreement with Greece on returning migrants, Germany must take back a refugee who was stopped on the border and deported to Greece. A Munich court found that proper procedure under German law had not been followed. While it is allowed to send people back to other EU states, the procedure is complicated when a person is sent back directly from the border, as this case shows.
The Greek government has expressed concern over an increase in migrant landings on the Aegean islands over the past few weeks. The minister responsible for migration wants the incoming European Commission to ensure "a fairer sharing of the burden."
The number of migrants presenting at registration camps on the Greek islands has topped 20,000 once more, according to data released by the Greek Ministry of Citizen Protection. The number of people living at facilities on the islands in the eastern Aegean Sea had dropped down to 14,000 in April.
EU border agency Frontex has denied that it tolerated human rights violations against migrants and refugees in Bulgaria, Greece and Hungary. Several media reports have accused the agency of being at the scene of illegal activities by national border guards.
New reports place the EU border agency Frontex at scenes of brutality against migrants. The border guards of Greece, Bulgaria and Hungary have been found to be especially brutal.
According to the Greek coast guard, its own patrol boats and EU border agency Frontex on Wednesday spotted nearly 120 people trying to reach Greece from Turkey on motorized rubber dinghies and wooden boats. Close to 20,000 migrants are currently staying in overcrowded camps on Greek islands in the eastern Aegean Sea.
Authorities in Greece have stepped up efforts to detain migrants without residence permits. Police have made a number of arrests in Thessaloniki and at some of the country's major airports.
Authorities say EU border agency Frontex has provided the Greek coast guard with a crewless airship to help combat irregular immigration and to augment search and rescue operations in the eastern Aegean Sea, where close to 20,000 migrants are staying in overcrowded camps on Greek islands. Separately, police found nearly 130 migrants in vehicles and detained two smugglers in two unrelated incidents, one in Greece and one in North Macedonia.
Unaccompanied minor refugees and migrants in Greece are at risk of violence and abuse and often live in catastrophic conditions, a new report by the Germany-based organization "Equal Rights Beyond Borders" finds.
Two months ago, the EU border and coastguard police Frontex deployed 50 officers to the Greek-Albanian border to intercept migrants headed north. So far, migrants have been apprehended on a daily basis, Frontex says.