[2] False border crossings were constructed in the areas of Aš, Cheb, Mariánské Lázně, Chodský Újezd, Domažlice, Kdyně, and Všeruby.
In many cases, the victims had been encouraged to flee the country by undercover StB agents posing as members of the underground anti-communist opposition.
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.
The spread of such news in prisons and in the rest of society was intended to convince the population that the US was not genuinely supportive of the anti-communist cause and that there was no hope of successful escape.
[4] The US learned of the false border operation from Stanislav Liska, the chief of police in Všeruby, who since 1945 had been part of a network in Czechoslovakia sharing intelligence with the US.