Gambian migrants in Turkey en-route to Greece for greener pasture through the sea have accused the Greek authorities of extorting their monies and belongings before sending them back to Turkey.

The migrants who spoke to KNN on condition of anonymity asserted that “once we reached the Greek shores we were intercepted by their coast guard who pretended to be helping us at first. Once they realized that we are migrants they took all our monies, mobile phones and bags before sending us back to Turkey.”

The migrants further revealed that, some of them were beaten when they refused to hand over their mobile phones.

Another migrant (name withheld), informed us that he was able to cross to Greece after several attempts but complained of harsh conditions at the Moria camp, the largest in the country with about 13,000 inhabitants.

He disclosed that, the recent fire outbreak in the camp is caused by the Afghan migrants who are frustrated by the slow pace of their migration processes.

By:  Sarjo D. Bojang