Syrians using stolen passports freed on bail in Honduras

Five Syrian men jailed in Honduras for arriving with stolen Greek passports were freed on bail by a judge Tuesday after authorities deemed them migrants and not security risks.

The men, aged between 21 and 30 and identifying themselves as Syrian students and a professor, were freed on bail of $450 each, a court spokeswoman told AFP.

They had been in preventive detention pending investigation on charges of falsifying public identity documents for putting their photos in the passports.

The Syrians were arrested on November 17 as they arrived at the airport, which was under greater vigilance because of the Paris attacks by jihadists four days earlier.

They had caught flights from Lebanon, Turkey, Brazil, Argentina and Costa Rica to get to Honduras and initially told officials they were aiming for the United States. They later changed their stated destination to Guatemala.

Officials with Honduras's immigration department questioned them and concluded they were, in fact, fleeing from their country's war and were not violent extremists.