Athens, Nov 14 (IANS): A 27-year-old Bangladeshi national, who had posted a video on social media inviting fellow Bangladeshis to come to Greece illegally, has been deported from Athens after Greek authorities completed his administrative removal, a report said. According to the ‘Greek City Times’, the man returned to Bangladesh on Tuesday on a charter flight from Athens together with 50 other compatriots and Pakistanis. “The deportation followed the rejection of his third successive asylum (international protection) application, exhausting the available procedures,” the report said.
In June, he had posted the video from Nafplio, claiming that they would face no police checks or risk of deportation, even if they stayed for decades without documents, and that work opportunities were available. Citing sources quoted by Greek media outlet ‘Proto Thema’, the report said the man was legally represented by an NGO active in migration matters, and two lawyers continued efforts until the last moment to secure his stay in Greece despite the successive rejections. “The Ministry of Migration and Asylum views the case as symbolic of the state’s ability to complete returns even when individuals file repeated applications and appeals to prolong their stay. Migration and Asylum Minister Thanos Plevris described it as ‘a characteristic example of the policy implemented by the Ministry… aimed at preventing the stay in the country of foreigners in cases where the competent authorities have definitively ruled that the legal conditions are not met’,” the report stated.
According to the report, the video, which surfaced in late June, prompted an immediate reaction from Plevris, who warned that such posts spread false messages about Greek migration policy and can be exploited by smuggling networks to attract illegal migrants to the European Union. “Police identified the man and opened a case file against him. On 26 June his residence permit was revoked and removal procedures began,” the report in ‘Greek City Times’ detailed. Official figures for the first half of 2026 showed 2,638 total returns, against 2,207 in the same period of 2025, marking a 20 per cent increase, while forced deportations rose more sharply from 915 to 1,292, up 41 per cent, the report .
