People smuggling

Inside the world of human smuggling

Many refugees, wanting to move on rather than apply for asylum in Greece, turn to smugglers.

Travelling over land, an arduous journey - particularly during the winter, can take weeks and is often a last resort. But to leave by air requires buying a fake passport from a smuggler.

Alacan says "hundreds" of refugees attempt to leave Greece each month on fake passports, often paying double what they would to travel by land. According to the Greek police, arrests of refugees carrying counterfeit passports has gone up by about 230 percent since the closure of the Balkan route.

With European countries planning to send refugees who first entered the EU through Greece back to the country from mid-March, the UNHCR has raised concerns that more refugees might turn to smugglers before that date. "Smugglers might use this for marketing purposes," said Roland Schoenbauer, a senior communication and public information officer at the UNHCR.