German investigators identified Anis Amri, the Tunisian man who killed 12 people in Berlin last month, as a threat in February last year but decided it was unlikely he would carry out an attack, Reuters reported Tuesday, citing the German newspaper Sueddeutsche Zeitung.
Amri, 24, plowed a truck through a Berlin Christmas market on December 19 in an attack claimed by the Islamic State (ISIS) jihadist group, which said Amri was its “soldier”.
Amri was killed during a shootout with Italian forces in Milan, four days after the deadly terrorist attack in Berlin.
According to the Sueddeutsche, the German authorities had determined that Amri posed a threat after receiving intelligence showing that in early February he had been in contact with suspected members of ISIS and offered himself as a suicide bomber.
Officials at the German Interior Ministry were not immediately available for comment.
Amri reportedly wanted to acquire weapons for an attack in Germany and sought accomplices, according to the Sueddeutsche report, which cited security documents.
However, German officials who subsequently met to decide whether to deport Amri, determined he posed no acute threat that could be presented in court.
German police believe that Amri had at various times used six alternative aliases and three different nationalities.
Some of the aliases he used were variations of his name and he has also claimed Egyptian and Lebanese citizenship.