Tunisian suspect in Berlin attack had been probed for plot
Germany suspected 20-year-old was planning 'a serious act of violence against the state' but was unable to deport him
DÜSSELDORF, Germany — A Tunisian man wanted over this week’s deadly Berlin Christmas market truck rampage had already been in the cross-hairs of counter-terrorism officials over an attack plot, a regional minister said Wednesday.
A probe had been launched against the man — named by media as Anis or Ahmed A. — suspecting he was preparing “a serious act of violence against the state,” said Ralf Jaeger, interior minister of North Rhine-Westphalia state.
Counter-terrorism officials had exchanged information, most recently in November, about the man, who was known to have links to radical Islamists, Jaeger told a press conference as police were searching for the man aged in his 20s.
Federal Interior Minister Thomas de Maiziere had earlier said the suspect police were searching for was “a suspect but not necessarily the assailant” behind the bloody attack that killed 12 people Monday.
Jaeger said Germany had rejected in June an asylum request by the Tunisian man, who had first arrived in the country in July 2015, but was unable to deport him because he said he did not have travel documents.
Tunisia had initially denied that the man was one of its nationals and had long delayed sending new papers, which Jaeger said were received only Wednesday.
