Switzerland has dropped an investigation of two men of Syrian origin arrested in Geneva last month over traces of explosives found in their car, the attorney-general said on Saturday.

Criminal proceedings were opened against the two under a law prohibiting groups such as al-Qaeda and Islamic State.

They denied having criminal intent and said they had only just arrived in Geneva and recently acquired the car.

“The original suspicion was not confirmed,” the attorney-general’s office said in a statement.

It said one of the men had been released and had left the country, but the other had been remanded in custody for not having valid identification. It referred only to their country of origin without specifying their nationality.

At the time of their arrest a prosecutor said the men had been carrying valid Syrian passports. A spokesman for the attorney-general on Saturday declined to say whether both men were Syrian.

A separate criminal proceeding opened last month in connection with a more general terror alert in the Geneva area remains in place, the attorney-general’s office said.

swissinfo.ch and agencies