Four unaccompanied minors from Afghanistan who were being held against their will were rescued following a partnership between the Departments of Immigration and Asylum and Citizen Protection.

The National Emergency Response Mechanism (EMEA) was informed on June 12, via the 24-hour Hotline, that a group of four unaccompanied minors from Afghanistan were being held by traffickers in a basement on Phylis Street in Athens.

Following this information, the mobilization of the EMEA was immediate, as it called the ‘Immediate Action’ and gave all the necessary information so that the police could go to the scene.

This was followed by coordinated actions by the ‘Immediate Action’ and the Athens Security Sub-Directorate, which resulted in locating and rescuing the four minors, who were locked in a basement, within about an hour.

As a result, the minors were initially transferred to the Security Department of Agios Panteleimon for deposition, while under the coordination of the EMEA, the process of their first registration was carried out and their immediate transfer to an emergency accommodation structure of the Special Secretariat for the Protection of Unaccompanied Minors.

According to the announcement of the Ministry of Immigration and Asylum, “the incident highlighted once again the contribution of both the Special Secretariat for the Protection of Unaccompanied Minors through the EMEA to the valid and effective mobilization of all state institutions for the protection of unaccompanied minors and of the Ministry of Citizen Protection and the Greek Police to immediately intervene to rescue minor citizens of third countries”.