THESSALONIKI, Greece — Greek police patrolling the northeastern land border with Turkey on Thursday found a migrant with a gunshot wound to the leg who was believed to have crossed into Greece illegally, authorities said.
Police said the 25-year-old Syrian man had used a plastic boat to cross a river that runs along the border.
He had a gunshot wound in the thigh, and was taken to a local hospital for treatment, police said. It was not immediately clear who had shot him.
Greece is one of the most popular routes into the European Union for people fleeing poverty or conflict in the Middle East, Africa and Asia. The vast majority attempt to reach Greek islands from the nearby Turkish coast, but many also try to cross the Evros river that runs along the land section of the border.
Greece has been beefing up its border security, both on land and at sea. Particularly after the fall of Afghanistan to the Taliban, Athens has made clear it wants to avoid a repetition of 2015, when more than a million people entered Europe, the vast majority through the Greek islands, to seek asylum.
Follow AP’s global migration coverage at https://apnews.com/hub/migration
