Ex-Greek coastguard makes unguarded comment about migrants to BBC

A new BBC documentary investigates the conduct of the Greek Coastguard.

We showed footage of 12 people being loaded into a Greek coastguard boat, and then abandoned on a dinghy, to Dimitris Baltakos, a former senior Greek coastguard officer.

During the interview, he refused to speculate about what the footage showed – having denied, earlier in our conversation, that the Greek coastguard would ever be required to do anything illegal. But during a break, he was recorded making unguarded comments in Greek.

In a statement, the Greek Coastguard strongly reject all accusations of illegal activities. They said they work tirelessly with the utmost professionalism, a strong sense of responsibility and respect for human life and fundamental rights.

Read more on our investigation – Greek coastguard threw migrants overboard to their deaths, witnesses say

Watch ‘Dead Calm: Killing in the Med?’ on BBC iPlayer (UK only)