Berlin truck attack
The investigation so far
ANTOINE LAMBROSCHINI
A kidnapped driver, a Pakistani man held then freed and a manhunt for a Tunisian suspect: here is what we know about the probe into the truck attack on a Berlin Christmas market that left 12 people dead.
Frantic search for Tunisian
German authorities have launched a Europe-wide manhunt for 24-year-old Tunisian Anis Amri.
There is a 100,000-euro ($104,000) reward for information leading to the arrest of Amri, who could be violent and armed, authorities warn.
Papers showing Amris temporary resident permit in Germany were found in the cab of the truck he allegedly rammed into the packed Christmas market.
It has emerged that German officials were already investigating Amri, suspecting he might be plotting an attack.
Prosecutors in Berlin suspected he was planning a burglary to raise funds to buy weapons, possibly to carry out an attack.
However, after trailing him for
six months, they had to let the case drop as there was not enough evidence against himhe was only a small-time drug dealer, they thought.
Amri left Tunisia after the 2011 revolution. He lived in Italy for more than three years and reportedly served time there for setting fire to a school.
He arrived in Germany in July 2015 and applied for asylum, which was rejected in June.
However, his deportation became bogged down in red tape as Tunisia denied he was a citizen.
The necessary papers for his deportation came through on Wednesday, two days after the attack.
Just an hour after the carnage, the police declared they had a chief suspect already in custody: a Pakistani asylum seeker arrested only two kilometres away from the scene.
An eyewitness said he had spotted the killer jumping out of the trucks cab and then trailed him, all the while keeping in touch with police.
However, according to the Bild daily, the witness may have lost the trail of the real killer. And police, relying on a vague description, picked up the wrong man.
In the end, police released the Pakistani 24 hours later, after failing to find any trace of his DNA in the lorrys cab.
We declared victory too soon, said one investigator.
On Monday, Polish truck driver Lukasz, 37, was heading to Berlin to deliver 24 tonnes of steel beams from Italy.
But the delivery was put off until the following day, so he went to park his Polish-registered lorry in an industrial zone in the northwest of the city, according to Bild.
In the afternoon he spoke briefly to his wife and the couple agreed to talk again an hour later. But they never did.
According to his employer Ariel Zurawski, GPS data from the vehicle showed it had been driven, but only making small movements as if someone was learning how to drive it.
The lorry left its parking space around 7:40 pm, driving the 10 kilometres (six miles) or so to a busy area of west Berlin where the Christmas market was being held, and ploughing into the throng of revellers.
After 60-80 metres (200-260 feet) through the market the lorry swerved to the left, crashing through a stall before coming to a halt on the avenue running along the side of the square. The change of course brought the carnage to an end.
Police found the Polish driver, shot dead, in the passenger seat of the trucks cab. According to Zurawski, his cousin, who was shown photos of the body, his face was bloodied and swollen and had a stab wound.
According to German media, the Polish truck driver could have been kidnapped and told to drive the vehicle into the crowd before resisting and being killed.
Alternatively, sitting in the passenger seat at gunpoint, he may have tried to seize control of the vehicle and forced it off its deadly trajectory. AFP
