Nearly 3,900 illegal migrants that made their way to the Dodecanese islands of Kos, Leros and Kalymnos in the first three months of 2015 are being housed in abandoned buildings and in one isle’s police precinct courtyard.

The 1930s-era police headquarters on Kos, for instance, hosts 236 migrants, all from Third World countries. According to an article in the Athens daily “Eleftheros Typos”, conditions are abominable.

According to reports, police officers on the eastern Aegean holiday island have refused to take in more than 35 illegal migrants in the station holding cells.

“We have nothing against the migrants … This situation, however, cannot continue. A few days ago during the departure of 119 migrants who were granted a notice of release (with the condition they exit the country within a certain period of time) and freed, those that were outside the building violently entered the precinct’s courtyard, with the result being the occupation of the service by them,” a police official was quoted as saying.

Another concern, according to the president of the Union of Police Employees in the region, Antonis Kydonakis, is the fact no health checks are performed on the migrants who hail from sub-Saharan Africa and were smuggled onto Greek territory, with the police unionist pointing to worries of communicable diseases for police staff and their families.

Most of the illegal migrants landing on Greece’s islands are ferried by migrant smugglers operating in Turkey, although larger freighter loaded with their human cargo have been identified as sailing from other points in the eastern Mediterranean and North Africa.