Afghan teens kicked off Swedish train

STOCKHOLM, Sweden, Dec. 29 (UPI) -- Five Afghan teenagers found wandering in a cold Swedish forest on Christmas Eve had been kicked off a train, authorities say.

Swedish officials had originally thought the teens had had been abandoned by smugglers in a wooded area near Savsjo. But it emerged Monday that the five youths, ages 14 to 18, had in fact been booted from a passenger train there because they didn't have the proper tickets, the Swedish news agency Tidningarnas Telegrambyra reported.

The Afghan teens first told authorities they had been abandoned by smugglers in the woods. But Jonkoping police spokesperson Nils-Erik Eriksson told TT the youths had actually been dropped off by smugglers in Malmo in southern Sweden, where they boarded a train for Stockholm.

Eriksson said conductors on the SJ train discovered them without tickets and forced them off at Savsjo. Social services officials in the town say they now plan to place four of the boys in a youth home near Gothenburg, while the oldest boy would be put in a refugee arrival facility.

SJ spokesperson Dag Rosander told the news agency, "Saying they were thrown off the train is a faulty description. Staff handled the matter totally by the book."