Five Syrians arrested in Honduras trying to reach U.S. with stolen Greek passports

[You Are Safe! Screeches Barack Hussein Obama]

TEGUCIGALPA - Honduran authorities said on Wednesday they had
intercepted six Syrian nationals traveling on doctored Greek
passports in the past week, including five who had been trying
to reach the United States.

Five of the men were detained late on Tuesday in the Honduran
capital, Tegucigalpa, on arrival from Costa Rica, and had been
planning to head to the border with neighboring Guatemala. The
passports had been doctored to replace the photographs with
those of the Syrians, police said.

Anibal Baca, a spokesman for Honduras' police, said the five
were trying to get to the United States.

A sixth man was turned away on Friday on arrival by plane from
El Salvador, and was sent back there by air.

Police said there were no signs of any links to last week's
deadly attacks in Paris that killed 129 people. Islamic State
claimed credit for the shooting and suicide bombing assault.

Reports that at least one of the Paris attackers may have
slipped into Europe among migrants registered in Greece prompted
several Western countries to begin to question their willingness
to take in refugees from war-torn Syria.

In the United States, Republicans are resisting President Barack
Obama's plan to admit 10,000 Syrian refugees in the coming year.

"We received information from (fellow) police services that
these five Syrians left Greece and passed through Turkey,
Brazil, Argentina and San Jose in Costa Rica before finally
reaching Tegucigalpa," Baca said.

"They are normal Syrians," the police spokesman added, saying
there was nothing to indicate they were tied to the Paris
attacks.

Television footage showed the men dressed in casual clothing and
grinning as police officers escorted them at the airport.

Honduran newspaper La Prensa said the five men detained on
Tuesday were aged 23 to 33.

"Greek diplomats arrived in the terminal area and confirmed the
men didn't speak a word of Greek," the paper said.

The Honduran government said it had involved Interpol in the
investigation. Use of false passports is increasingly
commonplace among Syrian refugees who often find themselves in
other countries having left their own documents behind in their
rush to flee.

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/world/5-syrians-arrested-reach-
stolen-passports-article-1.2439370