Czech Interior Minister Milan Chovanec says authorities in Prague will send a group of Iraqi Christians back to Iraq after they tried to move to Germany rather than staying in the Czech Republic.

About 25 Iraqis took a bus to Germany on April 2 but were stopped by German police immediately after crossing the border.

Czech authorities agreed to a request by the German police to take the people back.

The Czech Republic had agreed in December to accept 153 Iraqi Christian refugees who have fled part of Iraq controlled by Islamic State militants.

Chovanec said the 25 Iraqis abused Czech generosity and should go back to Iraq within seven days.

It was not immediately clear how Chovanec meant for them to return.

Thirty-seven Christian families are supposed to arrive in the Czech Republic from Kurdish-controlled northern Iraq and from refugee camps in Lebanon from January to April.

The CTK news agency reported on April 3 that Chovanec has suspended the relocation program following the April 2 border-crossing incident.

Based on reporting by Reuters and CTK