A series of security failures allowed a terrorist to slip through the net and carry out the Christmas market attack in Berlin, a final report has found.
Anis Amri killed 12 people in the 2016 attack – shooting a lorry driver and ploughing the vehicle into pedestrians in Germany’s worst extremist attack.
Amri was known to security services more than a year before the attack but authorities believed he was no longer a serious threat.
A 1,200-page report by politicians in Berlin said authorities failed to monitor Amri’s movements at weekends or investigate his potential extremist contacts.
The report also blamed staff shortages and poor co-operation between security services for the failure to thwart the attack.
“We found numerous mistakes and the sum of these mistakes and failures made the attack possible,” said Stephan Lenz, chairman of the inquiry panel.
“There were a number of individual miscalculations, there were structural deficits in the security architecture, there were shortages of staff. All of this together led to Amri not being stopped and being able to carry out the attack.”
Amri arrived in Germany illegally in 2015 and lived under several false names in several German states, including Berlin.
He soon attracted the attention of authorities because of his suspected extremism and involvement in drug dealing.
Police began looking into his beliefs in October 2015 after a neighbour saw pictures of what appeared to be ISIS fighters on his phone.
Investigations revealed he talked about buying Kalashnikov assault rifles in Paris to carry out an attack in Germany.
Amri was placed under observation but this was scaled down by mid-2016 when signs of extremism were thought to be waning.
Investigators believed that someone involved in the drugs trade was unlikely to be a religious extremist, the committee’s report found.
“There was a perception that Amri had cooled off and was not becoming more radical, that he used and sold drugs … that he lived a mundane lifestyle and therefore couldn’t be a radical Islamist,” Mr Lenz said.
“That was a miscalculation, which led to the intensity of observation being scaled down and Amri not being prioritised any more.”
Observation failures
The report said it was hard to understand why Amri was not monitored during the evening, at weekends and at Friday prayers.
He was observed attending a mosque known as Fussilet 33, which was banned subsequently by German authorities.
The committee said investigators failed to properly investigate Amri’s social circle and whether it involved extremist connections.
“Amri’s web of contacts was not sufficiently cleared up. There were more possibilities here,” Mr Lenz said.
“It was clear that Berlin as a capital city would be a focus of Islamic extremists but there was no effective management of potential threats.”
Berlin’s Social Democratic Party, the city government's leading party since 2001, said counterterrorism measures had improved since Amri’s attack.
"The number of counterterror staff has doubled and software upgrades allow for better sharing of data," said party spokesman Frank Zimmerman.
The committee’s four-year investigation heard from dozens of witnesses and examined thousands of pages of documents.
More than 50 people were injured in the attack. The report said there was room for improvement in how the survivors of Amri’s rampage were supported.
Amri, originally from Tunisia, was killed in a shootout with Italian police days after the attack.
After arriving in Europe on Italy's Mediterranean island of Lampedusa in 2011, he served time in a prison on Sicily for various offences.
Italian counterterrorism authorities later said that Amri may have been radicalised at the Sicilian jail.
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Fourth Arab Economic and Social Development Summit
As he spoke, Mr Aboul Gheit repeatedly referred to the need to tackle issues affecting the welfare of people across the region both in terms of preventing conflict and in pushing development.
Lebanon is scheduled to host the fourth Arab Economic and Social Development Summit in January that will see regional leaders gather to tackle the challenges facing the Middle East. The last such summit was held in 2013. Assistant Secretary-General Hossam Zaki told The National that the Beirut Summit “will be an opportunity for Arab leaders to discuss solely economic and social issues, the conference will not focus on political concerns such as Palestine, Syria or Libya". He added that its slogan will be “the individual is at the heart of development”, adding that it will focus on all elements of human capital.
The biog
Marital status: Separated with two young daughters
Education: Master's degree from American Univeristy of Cairo
Favourite book: That Is How They Defeat Despair by Salwa Aladian
Favourite Motto: Their happiness is your happiness
Goal: For Nefsy to become his legacy long after he is gon
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
Mountain%20Boy
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UAE squad
Esha Oza (captain), Al Maseera Jahangir, Emily Thomas, Heena Hotchandani, Indhuja Nandakumar, Katie Thompson, Lavanya Keny, Mehak Thakur, Michelle Botha, Rinitha Rajith, Samaira Dharnidharka, Siya Gokhale, Sashikala Silva, Suraksha Kotte, Theertha Satish (wicketkeeper) Udeni Kuruppuarachchige, Vaishnave Mahesh.
UAE tour of Zimbabwe
All matches in Bulawayo
Friday, Sept 26 – First ODI
Sunday, Sept 28 – Second ODI
Tuesday, Sept 30 – Third ODI
Thursday, Oct 2 – Fourth ODI
Sunday, Oct 5 – First T20I
Monday, Oct 6 – Second T20I
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Our family matters legal consultant
Name: Hassan Mohsen Elhais
Position: legal consultant with Al Rowaad Advocates and Legal Consultants.
'Midnights'
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Read more from Aya Iskandarani
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Types of bank fraud
1) Phishing
Fraudsters send an unsolicited email that appears to be from a financial institution or online retailer. The hoax email requests that you provide sensitive information, often by clicking on to a link leading to a fake website.
2) Smishing
The SMS equivalent of phishing. Fraudsters falsify the telephone number through “text spoofing,” so that it appears to be a genuine text from the bank.
3) Vishing
The telephone equivalent of phishing and smishing. Fraudsters may pose as bank staff, police or government officials. They may persuade the consumer to transfer money or divulge personal information.
4) SIM swap
Fraudsters duplicate the SIM of your mobile number without your knowledge or authorisation, allowing them to conduct financial transactions with your bank.
5) Identity theft
Someone illegally obtains your confidential information, through various ways, such as theft of your wallet, bank and utility bill statements, computer intrusion and social networks.
6) Prize scams
Fraudsters claiming to be authorised representatives from well-known organisations (such as Etisalat, du, Dubai Shopping Festival, Expo2020, Lulu Hypermarket etc) contact victims to tell them they have won a cash prize and request them to share confidential banking details to transfer the prize money.
Generational responses to the pandemic
Devesh Mamtani from Century Financial believes the cash-hoarding tendency of each generation is influenced by what stage of the employment cycle they are in. He offers the following insights:
Baby boomers (those born before 1964): Owing to market uncertainty and the need to survive amid competition, many in this generation are looking for options to hoard more cash and increase their overall savings/investments towards risk-free assets.
Generation X (born between 1965 and 1980): Gen X is currently in its prime working years. With their personal and family finances taking a hit, Generation X is looking at multiple options, including taking out short-term loan facilities with competitive interest rates instead of dipping into their savings account.
Millennials (born between 1981 and 1996): This market situation is giving them a valuable lesson about investing early. Many millennials who had previously not saved or invested are looking to start doing so now.
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Game Changer
Director: Shankar
Stars: Ram Charan, Kiara Advani, Anjali, S J Suryah, Jayaram
Rating: 2/5
RACE CARD
6.30pm: Handicap (Turf) US$175,000 1,000m
7.05pm: Al Bastakiya Trial Conditions (Dirt) $100,000 1,900m
7.40pm: Al Rashidiya Group 2 (T) $250,000 1,800m
8.15pm: Handicap (D) $135,000 2,000m
8.50pm: Al Fahidi Fort Group 2 (T) $250,000 1,400m
9.25pm: Handicap (T) $135,000 2,410m.
The Bio
Hometown: Bogota, Colombia
Favourite place to relax in UAE: the desert around Al Mleiha in Sharjah or the eastern mangroves in Abu Dhabi
The one book everyone should read: 100 Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez. It will make your mind fly
Favourite documentary: Chasing Coral by Jeff Orlowski. It's a good reality check about one of the most valued ecosystems for humanity
Benefits of first-time home buyers' scheme
- Priority access to new homes from participating developers
- Discounts on sales price of off-plan units
- Flexible payment plans from developers
- Mortgages with better interest rates, faster approval times and reduced fees
- DLD registration fee can be paid through banks or credit cards at zero interest rates
