- 61 140. From the information gathered by the delegation during the visit, it transpired that the alleged push-back operations described in detail by the foreign nationals interviewed displayed a similar pattern. The persons concerned had initially entered Greece from Turkey by irregularly crossing the Evros River.96 Shortly after their arrival in Greece, they were apprehended by Greek police and border guards and were usually brought to one of the nearby police and border guard stations in the Evros region. Personal belongings, including mobile phones, were usually confiscated. Some foreign nationals alleged that they were not individually registered and that their arrest and detention had not been recorded. One person claimed that, before being pushed back, he had been kept overnight in a van together with a group of other apprehended migrants. Further, some foreign nationals alleged that they were not provided with food by the police during the entire period of their detention in police custody, which lasted between several hours and more than one day. The persons interviewed told the delegation that they were then transported in a van with a group of other foreign nationals, including in some instances families with children, to a military zone at the Evros River bank. Subsequently, they were handed over to other armed and masked police and border guards or (para-) military commandos who forced the group to board small inflatable boats. Some persons complained that their repeated requests for asylum in Greece were ignored and that they were not given the possibility to challenge their removal. Foreign nationals also alleged that, in some cases, personal belongings (including identity documents) were destroyed. They were then taken back by boat to the Turkish side of the river; some alleged that they were left on one of the small islets in the middle of the river near the Turkish river bank, and either had to reach Turkish soil by their own means or were required to wait to be collected by the Turkish authorities. 141. These allegations also correspond to allegations that the CPT had previously received, 97 including through interviews with foreign nationals who had alleged push-backs during its 2015 visit to Turkey.98 142. In addition, the delegation received a credible allegation that, in February 2017, three Turkish nationals who had crossed the Evros River and who intended to seek asylum in Greece were apprehended, unofficially detained in a hotel in Orestiada and later returned to Turkey and handed over to the Turkish authorities. The three were reported to have been arrested and detained in Turkey, where they were allegedly severely ill-treated by the law enforcement officials (including deprivation of food, physical and psychological harassment, beatings, electroshocks and rape). This allegation was confirmed by a second detained person with whom the delegation met. 96 97 98 Some had done so with the assistance of smugglers. See also Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights, Letter to the Greek Ministers of Public Order and Citizen Protection, Mr Nikolaos Dendias, and of Shipping and the Aegean, Mr Miltiadis Varvitsiotis, 5 December 2013. For more recent allegations see, for instance, United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) Greece, Η Υ.Α. εκφράζει την έντονη ανησυχία της για τις αναφορές για άτυπες αναγκαστικές επιστροφές από την Ελλάδα στην Τουρκία [UNHCR expresses its deep concern at the reports of informal forced returns from Greece to Turkey], 8 June 2017; and Greek Council for Refugees, Reports of systematic pushbacks in the Evros region, 20 February 2018. See the report on the CPT’s 2016 visits (CPT/Inf (2017) 32).