Screening expert 2019-04-05 Saso is a Slovenian expert working for Frontex on Lesvos as screener as part of operation Poseidon. He helps the Greek authorities to determine the nationality of migrants arriving on the island. He is one of the protagonists of an EU Commission’s video on Europe’s ordinary heroes. “I’m an expert screener at the Moria centre here in Lesbos. My job is to establish the nationality of migrants arriving on the island, because many of them don’t carry any identification. I help local police register ... Read more
Border surveillance officer 2019-01-13 Meet Pedro, a Portuguese officer working for Frontex on the Greek island of Lesvos:"I have been working on Lesvos since December 2018 as a border surveillance officer and diver. This is not my first mission with Frontex – I was on Lesvos before in 2017.I am a Portuguese Maritime Police Officer. At home I work as part of a forensic scuba diving team. I do underwater missions to gather evidence that is used in criminal investigations, but I also do maritime rescue work and underwater repairs on ... Read more
Swedish vessel rammed by suspected smugglers 2015-10-08 On Wednesday, 7 October, a Swedish coastal patrol boat deployed in operation Poseidon Sea was rammed by a yacht in Greek territorial waters near the island of Lesbos. The Swedish vessel did not sustain any major damages. The incident took place after the Swedish boat detected a yacht, suspected of being engaged in people smuggling, proceeding at high speed towards Turkey.The Swedish crew attempted to stop and intercept the yacht by the repeated usage of sound and optical signals. The yacht’s ... Read more
Frontex Executive Director to meet NATO Secretary General and EU Commissioner Avramopoulos 2016-02-12 Frontex Executive Director Fabrice Leggeri will meet with NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg and EU Commissioner Dimitris Avramopoulos on Monday in Brussels to discuss the coordination of their activities related to the refugee and migrant crisis.This meeting will take place after NATO decided on Thursday to launch an operation near Turkey.Frontex currently has 775 officers and support staff deployed on the Greek islands as part of Poseidon Rapid Intervention. The operation also includes ... Read more
Border surveillance officer 2019-02-16 Meet David, a Portuguese officer working on Lesvos as part of Frontex operation Poseidon: "My role here in Lesvos is Border Surveillance Officer aboard a coastal patrol boat of Portuguese Maritime Police. I’m also a member of the tactical team if tactical boarding is required. I am trained in advanced first aid, which is sometimes needed in rescue operations. Back home in Lisbon I’m a member of the GAT Tactical Team. It is a strategical reserve unit of Maritime Police, trained to perform ... Read more
Interpreter / cultural mediator 2018-01-12 The migrants who arrive in Europe come from many different countries and have different social and educational backgrounds. Not all of them speak English, French, or other European languages. Cultural mediators work as translators within Frontex operations. They provide linguistic support to the local authorities and Frontex experts in order to improve debriefing and screening activities as well as increase the quality of information gathered.Meet Hamid, a cultural mediator from the ... Read more
Situational update: Migratory situation at the Greek-Turkish border 2012-10-03 The numbers of migrants crossing the Greek-Turkish land border dropped from over 2000 a week in the first week of August to little over 200 in the second week. This is the direct effect of increased surveillance and patrolling activities by the Greek authorities, which included the deployment of an additional 1800 officers along the Evros river at the beginning of August. In September, detections dropped even further from around 70 a week at the beginning of the month to below 30 in the second ... Read more
Vanessa, a standing corps recruit from Portugal 2021-03-03 Meet Vanessa, a Frontex standing corps officer from Portugal currently working in Greece:“I come from the Portuguese maritime police. In Greece, as a European Border and Coast Guard officer, I am working in the coordination centre of the joint operation Poseidon in Greece.We keep an eye on the activities on several islands in the Aegean Sea and make sure that our officers and their equipment have everything they need to take part in the biggest Frontex operation.Perhaps the most complicated ... Read more
Frontex requests more information on Symi incident 2015-08-31 Frontex Executive Director Fabrice Leggeri has requested Greek authorities to provide the agency with a progress report and information about the incident, which resulted in the death of a 17-year-old migrant near the Greek island of Symi on Saturday.On early Saturday afternoon, a Latvian patrol vessel deployed in operation Poseidon Sea detected a yacht with more than 90 migrants aboard in Symi Island’s Marathounta Bay.None of the officers from the Latvian vessel involved in the incident used ... Read more
23 000 migrants arrived in Greece last week 2015-09-01 Migrants rescued at sea arrive in Mitilini, Lesbos More than 23 000 migrants arrived in Greece by sea last week, nearly 50 percent more than in the previous week, according to preliminary data collected by Frontex. In the Frontex-coordinated Operation Triton in the Central Mediterranean, 5 400 were rescued last week, roughly in line with the previous one. There were also 55 bodies recovered in the seven-day period, mainly those from below the deck of a wooden boat intercepted by Swedish vessel ... Read more