During sweep operations and random police checks, particularly in public urban spaces, several applicants reported being apprehended and checked for documentation. One individual described providing his asylum seeker card upon request by the authorities, and subsequently being taken to a police station before being detained for several months without being given any reasoning, in a language he understood. These random and unsubstantiated apprehensions demonstrate the use of detention as a method of control in Greece, despite not following procedures or providing sufficient justification. “It was an old van, white, no sign. Then the police checked everything, asking “Why are you here ? Are you a drug dealer?” I said no, they kept saying “you are a drug dealer”. They didn't find anything, they checked my [asylum seeker card] ID, it was valid. Then they said we will take you to the police station and check you again and I said “no problem”. So they didn't even handcuff me, we went to a police station, it was in Thesaloniki, they put me inside the cell for 5 hours, it was really small, and I didn’t know why they kept me there. I was really hungry, just waiting. Then they checked me again, they didn't find anything, I said “now you should let me go, you haven't found anything, I haven't done anything wrong so, let me free” and they said “no, you have to take off your laces from the shoes", then I knew it, I knew that they are gonna put me somewhere for long because why would they ask me to take it off? I was arrested at 7:30 at night and I was kept in the police station like 8-9 hours so in total around 3 o’clock in the morning they took me to another police station, which is called Megalo, it’s like the biggest police station and when I entered there, they handcuffed me and they were really tight, the handcuffs. And when they took me there, I found other people, in the same cage, like me they had their documents valid, they had done nothing but they kept them there. We stayed in this police station for a total of 14 days then they took us, they told us “hey we want to take you out, but we don't want to release you in Thessaloniki so we will bring you somewhere else and then release you”. And they brought a bus, a blue bus. They put us inside the bus and they drove us for like 3-4 hours to Paranesti. When we entered this camp, this detention centre sorry, they checked us again. I was an asylum seeker. I was detained there for six months. Ali, Paranesti Source: Paranesti PRDC, BVMN 49