German police swooped today to arrest an alleged accomplice of the Berlin market attacker.
Six days after jihadi Anis Amri , 24, was shot dead by police in Italy, security services raided the home and business premises of a fellow Tunisian living in Berlin.
Sources said the 40-year-old’s phone number was found in Amri’s mobile and had been called numerous times in the run-up to December 19, when Amri ploughed a hijacked HGV into a packed Christmas market , killing 12.
Amri, who had pledged allegiance to the so-called Islamic State, is thought to have dumped his phone alongside his ID papers in the cab of the 20-tonne truck so he could not be traced while on the run.
Refusing to give any more details on the suspected accomplice, the office of Germany’s federal prosecutor said: ”Further investigations indicate that he could have been involved in the attack.
“To what extent suspicions against the arrested person will be hardened up remains to be seen after further investigation.
A decision is set to be taken tomorrow on whether there is enough evidence to charge the arrested person.
The arrest came as more information emerged about how Amri managed to get to Italy, where police stumbled across him before killing him in a shoot-out.
Dutch investigators said they were looking at whether Europe’s most wanted man at the time had managed to evade capture simply by sitting on a bus that took him across the continent.
It is thought Amri spent 15 hours on an overnight Flixbus that left Amsterdam bound for Lyon in the south of France.
It is possible he may have had to change coaches in Paris early on Thursday, with an 80-minute stopover, by which time his name and mugshot had been circulated worldwide.
Amri got to Lyon then travelled by train, via Chambery, to Turin in Italy and onto Milan, where he was killed in the early hours of Friday.
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In his backpack, police found unwrapped Dutch SIM cards which were only being given away as a special promotion in certain parts of Holland, local reports said.
Wim de Bruin, spokesman for the Dutch National Prosecutor’s Office, said there were “signs” Amri had passed though the Netherlands on his way to France, and an investigation was ongoing.