One of 3 foreign nationals arrested on migrant smuggling charges claims he’s a Turkish special forces member

One of three foreign nationals arrested by the Greek coast guard on charges of migrant smuggling reportedly told authorities he’s a current member of the Turkish armed forces, serving his obligatory military service in the neighboring country’s army special forces no less.

The trio of suspects, two Turks and another man who claims to be from Syria, were arrested in the pre-dawn hours on Thursday morning after two high-speed chases of craft carrying irregular migrants from the Turkish coast to the Dodecanese island of Kos.

According to an announcement by the Hellenic Coast Guard, patrol boat officers had to knock out the two speed boats’ engines with gunfire in order to stop them. The two craft had attempted to ram pursuing Greek patrol boats on several occasions in order to evade arrest, the same reports stated.

A full-scale investigation is underway to determine of the trio of suspects have been involved in other instances of migrant smuggling.