Greek police join security checks at German airports

From Wednesday, four Greek police officers will be working alongside their German counterparts, helping with checks on passengers arriving at the country’s airports from Greece.

The German Interior Ministry told Kathimerini that the Greek policemen would be stationed at Munich and Frankfurt airports, where passengers from Greece are undergoing checks after Berlin stepped up security.

German authorities said more inspections were needed after some 1,000 passengers arrived from Greece in the first nine months of this year with invalid travel documents.

German officers are already based at Athens and Thessaloniki airports to work with Greek police in a bid to reduce the number of people able to slip through checks.

Germany’s Interior Ministry would not comment on whether Greek ID cards and passports are easier to forge than other European ones but did say that forged documents from Greece were found in the possession of some passengers pulled aside between January and September.

The ministry official added that around 50 percent of those stopped were from Syria.