Australian athletes have passports retained, suspected of falsifying credentials

Nine Australian athletes had their passports retained and face a R$10,000 fine each after falsifying credentials to gain access to the basketball game between Australia and Serbia.

Nine Australian athletes had their passports retained and face a R$10,000 fine each after falsifying credentials to gain access to the basketball game between Australia and Serbia, according to Globo.com.

The athletes, cyclists Ashlee Ankudinoff and Melissa Hoskins, rugby player Ed Jenkins, archers Alec Potts and Ryan Tyack, rowers Olympia Aldersey, Fiona Albert and Lucy Stephan and hockey player Simon Orchard, have been released from the police station and returned to the athletes village.

One other athlete, Matthew Glaetzer, was held as a witness, but does not face charges.

Under Brazilian law, falsifying documents can be punishable by prison time. However, if the fine is paid, there would be no criminal convictions and any record of the incident will be eliminated after two years.