German prosecutors investigating 2nd suspect in Berlin truck attack

Record ID: 163058

  • Title: German prosecutors investigating 2nd suspect in Berlin truck attack
  • Date: 4th January 2017
  • Summary: KARLSRUHE, GERMANY (JANUARY 4, 2017) (REUTERS) EXTERIOR OF FEDERAL PROSECUTOR'S OFFICE FEDERAL PROSECUTOR'S OFFICE SIGN SPOKESWOMAN FOR FEDERAL PROSECUTOR'S OFFICE, FRAUKE KOEHLER ARRIVING CAMERAMAN (SOUNDBITE) (German) SPOKESWOMAN FOR FEDERAL PROSECUTOR'S OFFICE, FRAUKE KOEHLER, SAYING: "On the basis of a decision by the investigating judge of the federal court, yesterday we searched the accommodation of a contact of Anis Amri in a refugee centre in Berlin. This contact is a 26-year-old Tunisian. We are investigating him on the suspicion that he was involved in the attack." MAN TAKING NOTES (SOUNDBITE) (German) SPOKESWOMAN FOR FEDERAL PROSECUTOR'S OFFICE, FRAUKE KOEHLER, SAYING: "According to our current knowledge, this suspect and Anis Amri had known each other since the end of 2015. Our investigations have found that they met the evening before the attack in a restaurant in Berlin, in the Gesundbrunnen district, that they ate together and spoke at length." CAMERAMAN (SOUNDBITE) (German) SPOKESWOMAN FOR FEDERAL PROSECUTOR'S OFFICE, FRAUKE KOEHLER, SAYING: "Therefore federal police officers yesterday searched the accommodation of this suspect in a refugee centre on Motardstrasse in Berlin. Among other things they seized communication devices which are now being evaluated." CAMERAMAN (SOUNDBITE) (German) SPOKESWOMAN FOR FEDERAL PROSECUTOR'S OFFICE, FRAUKE KOEHLER, SAYING: "Altogether we had to come to the conclusion that the evidence was not sufficient to request an arrest warrant. But the suspect was temporarily detained in custody yesterday evening by the Berlin prosecutor. Today he was brought before the investigating judge in Berlin, who ordered that he be remanded in investigative custody." CAMERAMAN KOEHLER LEAVING BERLIN, GERMANY (JANUARY 4, 2017) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF REFUGEE HOME WHICH WAS SEARCHED
  • Embargoed: 19th January 2017 15:09
  • Keywords: Anis Amri raids Berlin searches homes Christmas market attack Tunisian suspect
  • Location: KARLSRUHE, GERMANY
  • City: KARLSRUHE, GERMANY
  • Country: Germany
  • Topics: Conflicts/War/Peace,International/National Security
  • Reuters ID: LVA0015XO0DHJ
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text: German authorities have taken into custody a 26-year-old Tunisian man and are investigating whether he played a role in the truck attack that killed 12 people in the German capital before Christmas, a spokeswoman for the chief federal prosecutor said on Wednesday (January 4).
    Police on Tuesday evening (January 3) searched the room of the man who had dinner with the Tunisian main suspect Anis Amri, 24, a day before Amri ploughed a truck through a Berlin Christmas market on December 19, the spokeswoman said.
    "This contact person is a 26-year-old Tunisian. We are investigating him on the suspicion that he was involved in the attack," spokeswoman and prosecutor Frauke Koehler told reporters.
    The spokeswoman said there was not sufficient evidence at this point to charge the man for any role in the attack.
    However, the Berlin state prosecutor's office said in a separate statement that it detained the 26-year-old man on Tuesday evening for fraud involving social benefits.
    The chief federal prosecutor's spokeswoman said authorities were evaluating communications devices seized during that raid and the search of an apartment belonging to another man who also had contact with Amri.
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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