police officers was subsequently also reduced to half. 62 To cover the costs, Greece drew funding (75%) from the External Borders fund as well as its own national resources. While the salaries of the police officers were borne by the Greek State, functional expenditures (tanker truck vehicles, etc) were co-financed by the Commission. Operation Xenios Zeus Operation Xenios Zeus was launched almost simultaneously with Operation Shield and was purported to act as its ‘internal’ counterpart, aspiring to exercise an analogous kind of controlthis time to the interior of Greece. On 16 July 2014, it was incorporated into the standard police procedures and patrols and renamed as ‘Operation Theseus'. The previous operation, 'Xenios Zeus',63named after the patron god of travelers in ancient Greece, had met with little public support. Operation Xenios Zeus comprised of a series of regular round-up operations carried out in areas with high concentration of irregular migrants, including street and house searches. It was an impressively large scale operation- both in terms of geographic coverage and intensity, including large urban centres. In the beginning, checks took place on an almost daily basis. The controls performed were of a sweeping nature: every migrant who happened to be in the area of the operational activity was stopped and subjected to document checks, a procedure that could last several hours and would often take place in public. Asylum seekers and regular migrants were no exception. A total of 65,000 were stopped from the beginning of the operation in August until 24 December 2012, out of whom only 4,128 were arrested for illegally staying in the country. The Operation was heavily criticised by the European Council for Refugees and Exiles (ECRE Weekly Bulletin, 7 September 2012, available at www.ecre.org ) for the risks it entailed for asylum seekers. In terms of resources, the precise number of officers deployed is not known, nor is the exact number of expenditure incurred 64. In the Attica region alone, Operation Xenios Zeus was first announced to have mobilized 2,000 officers.65 Since the control of irregular migrants forms part of the regular duties of a police officer, costs were absorbed through the salaries of police officers and regular operational expenses of the Greek Police.66 62 See N. Vafeiadis, “Ο Έβρος δεν είναι πια 'ξέφραγο αμπέλι”, Kathimerini newspaper, 4 August 2014 availble at http://www.kathimerini.gr/778815/article/epikairothta/ellada/o-evros-den-einai-pia-3efrago-ampeli 63 See X. Pantzou, “Ο Ξένιος Ζευς αποχαιρέτισε τον τόπο που τον γέννησε”, 18 November 2013, available at http://www.unhcr.gr/1againstracism/ο-ξένιος-ζευς-αποχαιρέτισε-τον-τόπο-πο/ 64 See M Yiannakaki, Question to the Minister of Public Order and Citizen protection, 7 August 2014, available at http://mariayannakaki.gr/δημοκρατικη-αριστερα-μαρια-γιαννακακη-βουλη/819-επιχ_ξενιος_ζευς 65 See Greek Police, Press Release of 4 August 2012, available at http://www.astynomia.gr/index.php?option=ozo_content&lang='..'&perform=view&id=18424&Itemid=950&lang= 66 See Minister of Citizen Protection, Parliamentary Reply of 20 September 2013, available at http://www.hellenicparliament.gr/UserFiles/67715b2c-ec81-4f0c-ad6a-476a34d732bd/8202865.pdf ; See however also Page 29