Investigation ongoing into shooting that injured border guard
The authorities are investigating the shooting incident on Saturday afternoon in Soufli, Evros, that injured a 54-year-old border guard, it was reported on Sunday.
According to public broadcaster ERT, one scenario being examined by the Greek authorities is that a migrant smuggler may have opened fire on the border guards to allow illegal migrants to cross into the country.
However, the police is keeping all possibilities open and has announced that the investigation is ongoing.
The incident occurred around 6.20 p.m. on Saturday when unknown assailants from the Turkish side opened fire on the 54-year-old and other Greek border guards conducting a patrol to prevent the illegal entry of migrants from Turkey into Greece.
“The colleagues were on a scheduled patrol. We don’t know who fired at them,” said Chrysovalantis Yalamas, president of the Evros border guards, speaking to Kathimerini.
According to Yalamas, the injured border guard is 54 years old and one of the most experienced in the service. He said that the guard has come out of surgery and is out of danger.
“We still don’t know how to explain it,” he said, referring to the incident, noting that such incidents had occurred in the past but not recently. “For the past year, these incidents had stopped, and the flow of migrants had decreased. It was a calm summer.”
Finally, he mentioned that this incident highlighted how dangerous the job of a border guard is.
