 Once caught in this way, the refugees could not claim to be innocent, since they carried signed statements describing their anti-communist views and activities.Many victims believed that every stage of the operation was genuine, and their capture was a result of straying too close to the Czechoslovak border after getting lost in the forest on the West German side.In some other cases, the StB agents posing as Americans would inform the refugees that their asylum applications had been rejected, and turn them over to the Czechoslovak border guards.