Berlin authorities have detained a suspected accomplice of Tunisian man Anis Amri, who drove a lorry into a Christmas market in the city last month, killing 12.
Prosecutors say the man, arrested on Wednesday in Berlin, met with Amri in a restaurant the evening before the December 19th attack.
The two had an “intensive” discussion and prosecutors suspect the 26-year-old in custody of “having knowledge of the attack plan and possibly having helped Anis Amri”.
Two weeks on, Germany’s federal prosecutor says it has no further doubts that Amri was the perpetrator of the attack that left 48 people injured.
The 24-year-old’s fingerprints were found on the steering wheel of the truck and ballistics tests have matched the gun he used in a Milan shoot-out – in which he was killed – to that used to kill the Polish driver of the truck used in the attack.
Investigators believe that Amri first spotted the vehicle on the afternoon of December 19 but only hijacked it after visiting a Berlin mosque frequented by members of the extremist Salafist movement.
Returning to where the truck was parked at about 7.30pm, he shot the Polish driver who was in the passenger seat at the time.
The results of ballistics tests mean the driver was not, as previously believed, still alive at the time of the crash at 8.01pm.
Security camera
Minutes later security cameras at Berlin’s Zoo Station, near the scene of the attack, apparently caught sight of Amri.
When he saw the camera, the man raised his index finger in the direction of the camera – a commonly used gesture of those linked to so-called Islamic State, also known as Isis.
“Based on our findings, after pulling everything together, we assume that Anis Amri carried out the attack,” said Frauke Köhler, prosecutor spokeswoman.
Many questions remain open, in particular to whom Amri sent a text and photo message from inside the truck shortly before the attack. Also unclear: where he stayed immediately afterwards.
Two days after the attack, on the morning of December 21st, he headed to the Dutch city of Nijmegen and, that afternoon, Amsterdam.
After that he travelled into France and Lyon and Chambery before heading on to Turin and Milan, where he was shot dead in the early hours of December 23rd after a routine police check.
Belgian prosecutors also confirmed on Wednesday that Amri made a two-hour stopover at the Brussels North station on December 21st after entering Belgium on a train from Amsterdam, before heading onwards to France.
Investigators detained Amri’s 26-year-old alleged contact man in his refugee accommodation in Berlin.
The Tunisian man had known Amri for about a year but a lack of evidence relating to the Berlin attacks meant authorities detained him for allegedly using several aliases to defraud the welfare system.
Police also searched a Berlin apartment where a former room-mate of Amri lives, but declined to say whether room-mate was questioned or arrested.
Police lapses
The postmortem of the Berlin attack has revealed major police lapses and security flaws.
Amri was listed as an Islamist “danger” in February and had been under surveillance since March.
He had offered himself as a suicide bomber in intercepted messages and had searched online for information on building pipe bombs.
However, German intelligence ceased their watch in September thinking he was a small-time drug dealer.
Amri’s asylum application was rejected earlier this year but he was not deported because Tunisia failed to provide the passport needed until after the attack.
In a separate case, a 20-year-old Syrian man identified only as Shaasal-M went on trial yesterday in Berlin accused of Isis membership and of planning terror attacks in the capital.
Police say the man, who came to Germany as an asylum seeker in the summer of 2015, had scoped out several possible attack sites, including the Brandenburg Gate and the Reichstag parliament building.
