A man has been arrested for allegedly trying to smuggle 50 people into Greece.

According to Greek police, they spotted the van on a highway near the border of Greece and Turkey on Saturday, but when they tried to signal the driver to stop, he sped off leading police to chase him down.

Inside the van police found men, women and children, all standing and packed in tightly, 30 of whom were from Syrian, 19 from Iraq and one from Afghanistan.

On Sunday it was revealed the refugees had each paid €1,500 (AUD $2276) to be transported from Turkey into Greece.

The 30-year-old man driving the van has since been charged with endangering the passengers’ lives.

Meanwhile another man was caught smuggling 10 refugees from Afghanistan into Greece on Saturday.