October 24, 2009

Double life on the border for Greek undercover immigration officer

(THESSALONIKI) - A veteran of Greece's anti-immigration police, 'Nick' has driven thousands of miles posing as a Turkish trucker, dodged an Albanian killer and was nearly shot by Greek border guards.

It's all in a day's work for the undercover officer who operates on Greece's northeastern border with Turkey, a major smuggling route through which thousands of clandestine immigrants slip into the country every year, seeking a better future in the European Union.

EU border watchdog Frontex calls the region delineated by the River Evros, Greece's natural boundary with Turkey, "the hottest area of illegal immigration in Europe".