Slovenia had tried to hand the refugees back to Hungary in accordance with EU rules because none of them asked to be granted asylum in Slovenia.

But the Hungarian authorities rejected their return in today's negotiations between law enforcement representatives of both countries, according to the Murska Sobota police.

"They wouldn't take them because the foreigners made no reference in talks that they had been in Hungary, and we in fact did not have physical evidence of their residing in Hungary. They had not had their fingerprints taken there so they are not in the system," police spokesman Boris Žibrat said.

The refugees will be returned to the aliens' centre in Postojna in the south of the country.

Interior Ministry State Secretary Boštjan Šefic had told reporters on Monday the refugees would stay in Slovenia if Hungary refused to take them. He said there was no doubt they came here from Hungary.

The group was apprehended by the police in the wee hours last Thursday as they were walking along the motorway near the north-eastern town of Lendava in an attempt to reach Austria and proceed to Germany.