Berlin police are accused of trying to cover up mistakes made in the handling of Tunisian terrorist Anis Amri, who killed 12 people at a Berlin Christmas market Dec. 19.
Amri plowed through the market in central Berlin with a stolen truck in Germany’s worst terror attack in decades. He managed to flee the scene but was shot dead four days later in Italy.
New revelations from Berlin authorities reveal Amri was flagged for being a high-level drug dealer weeks before the attack.
A document from Nov. 1 states Amri was suspected of “commercial-level, gang-related narcotics trafficking” — a crime that would normally warrant police action. Police are accused of covering up their inaction by downgrading him to a low-level drug offender one month after the attack.
“In the view of experts, this information would have been sufficient to secure an arrest warrant from prosecutors,” Andreas Geisel, Berlin’s interior minister, told the Associated Press. “To put it clearly, on this basis of an arrest it might have been possible to prevent this attack.”
German Federal Minister of the Interior Thomas de Maiziere demanded a “thorough and transparent explanation” from everyone involved.
“This is an unconscionable allegation, and I expect from everyone involved in the state of Berlin a very thorough and transparent explanation,” de Maiziere told reporters in Brussels.
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