The Bulgarian authorities have arrested three Syrian nationals trying to sneak into Turkey and charged them with attempting to join the Islamic State group, the Ministry of the Interior said on Monday.

The Syrians had been detained by Bulgarian border police when they tried to cross illegally into Turkey near Kapitan Andreevo border checkpoint on 9 February, the ministry said in a statement.

According to initial information, the three Syrian nationals, who had been granted refugee status by Germany, entered Bulgaria from Greece on 6 February, arrived in Sofia and stayed in a hotel. On 7 February they left for Svilengrad, a town near the border with Turkey about 10 km from Kapitan Andreevo.

After border police detained the Syrians, the regional court in Svilengrad gave each of them a six-month suspended sentence on charges of trying to cross illegally the state border.

“During the conducted operational activities, the affiliation of the three Syrian citizens to the ISIL has been established, as well as their intention to join the terrorist group,” the ministry said, using the acronym for Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, another name for the organization of jihadist miltants.

The ministry also said that the three Syrians had left Germany and arrived in Greece earlier this year, from where they tried to cross into Turkey but had been denied entry.

The prosecuting authorities have ordered the detention of the three Syrians for 72 hours and requested the Specialized Criminal Court to hold them into police custody until their case was heard.