AN ANDOVER man who took a swim while on holiday in Greece was reportedly detained as a suspected REFUGEE after drifting into Turkey.

According to national newspaper reports, Michael McCarron was picked up by the army after he went for a dip in the Maritsa river — which runs through the two countries.

He left behind his passport, phone and even his shoes on the Greek side of the riverbank.

The 28-year-old had been working as a rep on the party island hotspot of Kavos in Corfu before going on a trip in July last year.

He got a ferry to the mainland before riding a coach to the other side of the country to Alexandroupoli, where he went for a swim in the river.

He then trekked through what he thought was still the Greek countryside before he was approached by Turkish armed forces personnel.

He was detained after failing to produce any documents and taken to a holding centre where he spent several weeks.

Michael, from Andover, is reported in The Sun as saying: “They thought I was in the army or a spy.”

Describing his time in the detention centre he said it was “heart-breaking” seeingrefugee children.

“There were people there from Syria, Afghanistan, Yemen and north Africa, there were kids there, it was really heart-breaking”, he said.

“It was certainly life-changing. To see children and families in there that has come through the war, it really made me realise how easy life is [in the UK].”

After weeks in detention Michael was taken with armed guards to the British consulate to pick up an emergency passport.