- 21 46. There are further grounds for the CPT’s particular concern as regards the situation of foreign nationals kept in the holding facility of the Transitional Detachment for illegal aliens in Feres. Some of the persons interviewed there by the delegation stated that after their arrival in Greece they had tried to apply for asylum, but no police officer had been prepared to interview them or had even taken the trouble to examine their passports. As already noted in the preceding paragraph, there was no record of the presence of the persons in question on Greek territory. In fact, it transpired from the delegation’s discussions with the Director of Alexandroupolis Police Directorate and senior officials from the State Security Department at the Ministry of Public Order that, due to the absence of a bilateral agreement with Turkey for the readmission of third country nationals, an “informal” deportation – based on a verbal communication between Alexandroupolis Police and the Ministry - could be applied to certain foreign nationals arriving through the Turkish border (in particular those of Iraqi, Iranian and Afghani origin). In practice, this meant that the administrative deportation procedure described in paragraph 11 above was not followed. The CPT would like to receive the comments of the Greek authorities on this issue. 47. The CPT also wishes to reiterate a point already made in the report on the 1997 visit to Greece, that it would be in violation of both national and international legal obligations for persons to be returned to a country where there are substantial grounds for believing that they would run a risk of being subjected to torture or inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment. The CPT reiterates its request to receive a detailed account of the precise practical steps taken by the Greek authorities to ensure that such a situation does not occur.