Two photos of suspected Berlin truck terrorist Anis Amri have now been posted at the German Bundeskriminalamt website. The BKA has requested the public’s assistance to locate him here.
According to the German tabloid Bild, the Tunisian government refused to replace Amri’s passport, although requested to by the German government, because he was unknown to them:
Wie BILD erfuhr, hatte der Tunesier im April 2016 ein Asylantrag gestellt, wurde vom Bundesamt für Migration und Flüchtlinge (BAMF) gehört.
Der Antrag wurde nach Rücksprache mit den deutschen Sicherheitsbehörden abgelehnt! Der Staatsschutz hatte ihn schon auf dem Schirm. Nach BILD-Informationen hatte Deutschland bei Tunesien vor etwa zwei Monaten eine sogenannte Passersatzbeschaffung angefragt – damit die notwendigen rechtlichen Voraussetzungen für eine Abschiebung erfüllt sind. Tunesien lehnte ab. Da Anis Amri dort angeblich unbekannt ist.
Google translates Bild’s report into English as follows:
According to BILD, the Tunisian [i.e., Amri] had submitted an asylum application in April 2016 and was heard by the Federal Office for Migration and Refugees (BAMF).
The application was rejected after consultation with the German security authorities! The state guard had already put him on the screen. According to BILD information, Germany had asked Tunisians about two months ago a so-called passport rate procurement – so that the necessary legal requirements for deportation are met. Tunisia declined. Since Anis Amri is allegedly unknown there.
So who is he?
Well, Die Welt adds this:
Um ihn abschieben zu können, habe die Ausländerbehörde über die tunesische Botschaft Passersatzpapiere beantragt. Zunächst habe die tunesische Seite bestritten, dass Amri überhaupt ihr Staatsbürger sei, dann jedoch die Ersatzpapiere zugesagt. Bittere Ironie: Der neue tunesische Ausweis trifft ausgerechnet an diesem Mittwoch in Nordrhein-Westfalen ein – dem Tag, an dem Amri europaweit zur Fahndung ausgeschrieben wird und zwei Tage nach dem Blutbad vom Breitscheidplatz.
Translation:
In order to deport him, the (German) foreigner authorities applied through the Tunisian embassy for passport replacement documents. At first the Tunisian side contested whether Amri was indeed their citizen, then however approved replacement documents (passport). Bitter irony: the new Tunisian identification document arrived exactly this Wednesday (today) in North Rhine Westphalia – the day on which a Europe-wide search was started and two days after the blood bath at Breitscheidplatz.
The very latest: Amri also spent four years in jail in Italy, according to the Italian newspaper La Stampa. He was to be repatriated to Tunisia in 2015, after serving four years, but the Tunisian authorities did not provide the necessary documents and so he left for Germany from there.
Via reader CM.
UPDATE: The Daily Mail has more on Amri here.
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