Berlin // German police on Wednesday detained a Tunisian they believe “could have been involved” in the Berlin Christmas market attack.
The 40-year old man had alleged links to Anis Amri, who was shot dead in Italy last week, four days after killing 12 people by driving a hijacked lorry through the market.
The arrest was the first in Germany by investigators seeking to uncover if Amri had accomplices in the December 19 attack.
“Anis Amri had saved the number of this 40-year-old Tunisian national in his phone. The investigations indicate that he could have been involved in the attack,” the federal prosecutor’s office said.
The suspect was taken into custody early on Wednesday after federal police officers searched his Berlin home and work premises.
“The extent to which the suspicions against the detained person can be confirmed remains subject to further investigation,” the statement added.
Amri, 24, went on the run and was the focus of a four-day manhunt before being shot dead by police in Milan after opening fire first.
German police said they found his fingerprints and his temporary residence permit in the cab of the lorry used in the Berlin attack, next to the body of its registered Polish driver, who was killed with a gunshot to the head.
ISIL admitted to carrying out the Berlin rampage and released a video last Friday in which Amri pledged his allegiance to the extremist’s chief Abu Bakr Al Baghdadi.
More than a week after the attack, investigators were still battling to find out if Amri had help before and after the assault.
Three other men, including Amri’s nephew, were arrested by Tunisian police last Friday.
Separately, investigators came closer to tracing Amri’s escape route to Milan.
The Tunisian had boarded an overnight bus at the Dutch city of Nijmegen, near the German border, that took him to Lyon in central France, sources close to the investigation said.
Wim de Bruin, spokesman for the Dutch public prosecution service said: “We believe he was in Nijmegen, most likely last Wednesday.”
“There are video images and it’s very likely him,” Mr De Bruin said, adding that “it’s most likely here where he received a SIM card,” which Italian police later found on his body.
Amri got off the bus at the Lyon-Part-Dieu rail station, one of the sources said.
Surveillance cameras filmed Amri at the station last Thursday.
From there, he took a train to the French Alpine town of Chambery before heading to Milan.
A train ticket from Lyon to Milan via Turin was also found on Amri’s body.
But investigators are still trying to determine how Amri was able to leave Berlin and cross most of Germany to reach the Netherlands.
Amri was known to Tunisian police as a juvenile delinquent who drank and took drugs.
In 2011, he left his home country for Italy. There he spent four years in prison for starting a fire in a refugee centre, during which time he was apparently radicalised.
After serving his sentence he made his way to Germany in 2015, taking advantage of Europe’s Schengen system of open borders — as he did on his return to Italy last week.
German security agencies began monitoring Amri in March, suspecting he was planning break-ins to raise cash for automatic weapons to carry out an attack.
But the surveillance was halted in September because Amri, who was supposed to have been deported months earlier, was seen primarily as a small-time drug dealer.
*Agence France-Presse
The schedule
December 5 - 23: Shooting competition, Al Dhafra Shooting Club
December 9 - 24: Handicrafts competition, from 4pm until 10pm, Heritage Souq
December 11 - 20: Dates competition, from 4pm
December 12 - 20: Sour milk competition
December 13: Falcon beauty competition
December 14 and 20: Saluki races
December 15: Arabian horse races, from 4pm
December 16 - 19: Falconry competition
December 18: Camel milk competition, from 7.30 - 9.30 am
December 20 and 21: Sheep beauty competition, from 10am
December 22: The best herd of 30 camels
ZAYED SUSTAINABILITY PRIZE
Joker: Folie a Deux
Starring: Joaquin Phoenix, Lady Gaga, Brendan Gleeson
Director: Todd Phillips
Rating: 2/5
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Know before you go
- Jebel Akhdar is a two-hour drive from Muscat airport or a six-hour drive from Dubai. It’s impossible to visit by car unless you have a 4x4. Phone ahead to the hotel to arrange a transfer.
- If you’re driving, make sure your insurance covers Oman.
- By air: Budget airlines Air Arabia, Flydubai and SalamAir offer direct routes to Muscat from the UAE.
- Tourists from the Emirates (UAE nationals not included) must apply for an Omani visa online before arrival at evisa.rop.gov.om. The process typically takes several days.
- Flash floods are probable due to the terrain and a lack of drainage. Always check the weather before venturing into any canyons or other remote areas and identify a plan of escape that includes high ground, shelter and parking where your car won’t be overtaken by sudden downpours.
WHAT IS A BLACK HOLE?
1. Black holes are objects whose gravity is so strong not even light can escape their pull
2. They can be created when massive stars collapse under their own weight
3. Large black holes can also be formed when smaller ones collide and merge
4. The biggest black holes lurk at the centre of many galaxies, including our own
5. Astronomers believe that when the universe was very young, black holes affected how galaxies formed
In numbers: PKK’s money network in Europe
Germany: PKK collectors typically bring in $18 million in cash a year – amount has trebled since 2010
Revolutionary tax: Investigators say about $2 million a year raised from ‘tax collection’ around Marseille
Extortion: Gunman convicted in 2023 of demanding $10,000 from Kurdish businessman in Stockholm
Drug trade: PKK income claimed by Turkish anti-drugs force in 2024 to be as high as $500 million a year
Denmark: PKK one of two terrorist groups along with Iranian separatists ASMLA to raise “two-digit million amounts”
Contributions: Hundreds of euros expected from typical Kurdish families and thousands from business owners
TV channel: Kurdish Roj TV accounts frozen and went bankrupt after Denmark fined it more than $1 million over PKK links in 2013
Itcan profile
Founders: Mansour Althani and Abdullah Althani
Based: Business Bay, with offices in Saudi Arabia, Egypt and India
Sector: Technology, digital marketing and e-commerce
Size: 70 employees
Revenue: On track to make Dh100 million in revenue this year since its 2015 launch
Funding: Self-funded to date
More from UAE Human Development Report:
MATCH INFO
Norwich City 1 (Cantwell 75') Manchester United 2 (Aghalo 51' 118') After extra time.
Man of the match Harry Maguire (Manchester United)
Match info
Liverpool 4
Salah (19'), Mane (45 2', 53'), Sturridge (87')
West Ham United 0
MATCH INFO
Group B
Bayern Munich v Tottenham, midnight (Thursday)
Real estate tokenisation project
Dubai launched the pilot phase of its real estate tokenisation project last month.
The initiative focuses on converting real estate assets into digital tokens recorded on blockchain technology and helps in streamlining the process of buying, selling and investing, the Dubai Land Department said.
Dubai’s real estate tokenisation market is projected to reach Dh60 billion ($16.33 billion) by 2033, representing 7 per cent of the emirate’s total property transactions, according to the DLD.
COMPANY%20PROFILE
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