THE “armed and dangerous” Tunisian asylum seeker police believe carried out the Berlin Christmas market terror attack reportedly spent four years behind bars in Italy for burning down a migrant reception centre.

Prime suspect Anis Amri, 24, who was due to be kicked out of Germany today, was under covert surveillance for MONTHS earlier this year over fears he was planning a terror attack.

But police planning to raid Amri's last known address in Emmerich, north west Germany faced hours of waiting after an alleged typing error meant their warrants were not valid, according to German media.

Local reports said police also plan to raid four other addresses in Oberhausen, Dortmund and Dinslaken as the hunt for Europe's most wanted man continues tonight.

26 Police are hunting for a Tunisian man using the alias Anis Amri over the Berlin Market massacre attack

Prosecutors launched an investigation against him in March after receiving information from federal security agencies that he was planning a break-in to finance automatic weapons for an attack, prosecutors told the Associated Press.

Surveillance caught him dealing drugs in Berlin and being involved in a bar fight, but nothing substantiated the original warning and authorities stopped watching him in September.

Police planned to raid refugee accommodation in Emmerich - home to around 50 asylum seekers - but had to wait hours due to a typing blunder on warrant papers, according to German news site RPonline.

Earlier reports claimed police commandos had raided two apartments in Berlin, but the city's police denied this on Twitter, dismissing it as "rumours".

Official documents that would have allowed authorities to boot Amri out of Germany and back to native Tunisia are understood to have arrived just hours ago.

But a wrangle with Tunisia over his passport saw him remain in the country for several months longer, the Wall Street Journal reports.

Spy chiefs had been monitoring Amri since his original asylum application was rejected back in June – as it emerged he had been arrested three times this year.

26 Images from Facebook were released this afternoon. The Facebook of Amri appears to have since been deleted Credit: Rex Features

26 German authorities issued a wanted posted as they desperately tried to track down Amri this evening Credit: Getty Images

26 The 24-year-old had been due to be deported from Germany after a wrangle with Amri's homeland of Tunisia Credit: AP:Associated Press

Paperwork finalising the extradition only arrived today – days after 12 people were killed when a juggernaut he was believed to have been driving ploughed into the Berlin market.

Amri's father also revealed he spent four years in an Italian jail after burning down a migrant reception centre, reports The Times.

And he was also convicted in his absence of aggravated theft with violence and sentenced to five years behind bars in his home country, according to Tunisian local radio.

Earlier anti-terror cops were frantically hunting for him near the border town of Emmerich.

German police have obtained a European arrest warrant for the 24-year-old and placed a £90,000 bounty on his head, Associated Press confirmed.

Documents belonging to Amri were found in the cab of the juggernaut used to kill 12 people on Monday night.

And shocking revelations emerging this evening show spy chiefs had been monitoring him for months.

North Rhine-Westphalia Interior Minister Ralf Jager said: "This person attracted the attention of various security agencies in Germany because of contacts to a radical Islamist milieu."

He had also been arrested three times, once in July for a knife fight in a row over drugs.

His subsequent arrest for GBH saw him disappear from police radar before the case reached trial.

26 The necessary paperwork to extradite him had only been received today Credit: AP:Associated Press

26 Police released two more pictures of Amri this afternoon as they step up the hunt for their suspect Credit: Getty Images

26 Police today launched a manhunt in the town of Emmerich, the border town in which Amri lived

The revelation is likely to raise serious questions about the German authorities' surveillance of Amri, who was a disciple of Abu Walaa - one of Germany's most notorious Islamist preachers.

Amri was linked to Walaa, who was arrested in Hildesheim last month for recruiting radicals into the ranks of ISIS.

The group he led were arrested in the North Rhine-Westphalia and Lower Saxony regions over allegations they helped fighters travel from Germany to Syria to join the death cult.

26 Amri is thought to be closely linked to ISIS sympathiser and convicted preacher Abu Walaa Credit: Facebook

26 Berlin police were today pictured hunting for clues about the suspect who carried out Monday night's terror attack Credit: EPA

Tunisian Amri is known to police over an assault allegation but is thought to have gone underground before charges were pressed.

He was arrested in August and found to be in possession of a fake Italian passport, after which his phone was monitored until he disappeared earlier this month.

Amri is thought to have used six different aliases and three nationalities.

He had moved to Germany last year and was granted temporary asylum when an initial bid for permanent residency was rejected.

The manhunt switched to western Germany this afternoon as police launched an operation at a migrant centre in the border town of Emmerich where Amri lived.

Was für eine Situation: Die gesammelte Presse wartet in #Emmerich auf die Polizei. Höchst seltsam. pic.twitter.com/HxiQWKxeXE — Demian von Osten (@demianvonosten) December 21, 2016

26 Cops last night admitted the attacker in still on the run after they arrested the wrong man Credit: EPA

26 A manhunt is underway for the truck terrorist who careered into a Berlin Christmas market last night Credit: Reuters

26 Police thought they had caught the attacker, a Pakistani refugee, last night, but today admitted they had arrested the wrong man Credit: Reuters

German newspaper Der Spigel earlier reported that ID belonging to the suspect was found in the footwell of the truck that was used to kill 12 people.

They are thought to be working on the premise he was injured in a life-or-death struggle with the lorry's murdered Polish driver after his blood was found in the cab.

One chilling theory emerging today suggests he could have posed as a victim of the attack in a bid to make his escape.

Conservative voices are already ramping up pressure on Chancellor Angela Merkel.

Lawmaker Stephan Mayer sniped: "There is clearly a connection between the refugee crisis and the elevated terror danger in Germany.

“The identity of this Tunisian also underlines this, since he clearly entered Germany through Italy in the context of the refugee crisis.”

Cops had earlier botched their hunt for the terrorist behind the attack by arresting a man who had accidentally jumped a red light.

The innocent Pakistani refugee was taken into custody after being singled out for the minor traffic offence a mile down the road from the atrocity.

He was released from custody last night when cops found no blood or gun residue on him.

And today as sheepish police conceded they have given the real killer an 18-hour head-start, they admitted: "We cried hurrah too quickly."

26 German police were last night desperately hunting for the attacker behind the attack. Here, cops patrol the area around Berlin's Brandenburg Gate Credit: Getty Images

26 Devastated Germans set up vigils around the country overnight as details emerged that the terrorist behind the attack is still on the loose Credit: Splash News

26 A heavily-armed policeman laid flowers last night in memory of the victim of the Berlin attack Credit: Getty Images

A huge hunt was under way last night for the truck terrorist who killed 12 people at a Christmas market on Monday night.

Investigators say they have around 500 pieces of evidence to examine including mobile GPS and DNA samples.

They added their confidence of an arrest today.

Speaking on German TV last night, a police chief Andre Schulz predicted: "I'm fairly confident that we can present a new suspect maybe tomorrow or in the near future."

Officers thought they had caught the suspect minutes after the carnage unfolded.

A have-a-go hero had tailed a man he thought to be the attacker, leading police to the scene.

Suspicion had been sparked after onlookers watched him commit a minor traffic offence a mile down the road.

But throughout Tuesday it became apparent 23-year-old Naved Baluch had nothing to do with the massacre as police flew him to a secretive detention centre in the city of Karlsruhe.

Yesterday afternoon - after 18 hours in custody - they released the man without charge and admitted that the true killer was armed and still at large.

26 The attacker is still at large and believed to be armed, with police and security services launching a frantic manhunt for the 'dangerous criminal' Credit: Reuters

Israel's Foreign Ministry confirmed one of its citizens had been seriously wounded while his wife was among those missing this morning.

Last night ISIS claimed responsibility for the outrage — which came amid growing concerns about Germany’s two main spy agencies.

Police and security services were racing against the clock to find the attacker before he strikes again.

They declared they were searching for the “dangerous criminal” while politicians warned that Germany was “in a state of war”.

Twenty-five shoppers and stallholders remained in hospital last night. Fourteen of them were critically injured and Germany’s interior minister, Thomas de Maizière said some might not pull through.

A further 24 casualties had been treated and released.

They were mown down as the Scania articulated lorry deliberately ploughed into crowds in Breitscheidplatz — a square in the German capital — at 40mph.

It careered up to 80ft before stopping, ripping through stalls and tossing victims aside like dolls.

26 The lorry mounted the pavement, crashing through market stalls before coming out onto the road the other side, when the driver made his escape

26 How the horrific attack on the central Berlin market unfolded

26 Paramedics treated some of the injured at the scene, while nine were pronounced dead shortly after the attack Credit: Reuters

26 25 shoppers and stall-holders are still in hospital, 14 of them in a critical condition with uncertain chances of survival Credit: Reuters

The truck, carrying 25 tons of steel beams from Italy to Poland, had been hijacked and its Polish driver murdered.

The bloodied body of Lukasz Urban, 37, was found in the cab’s passenger seat after the atrocity.

He is believed to have been alive at the time of the attack with his cousin and employer saying Urban appeared to have been badly beaten.

"There must have been a fight," one investigator told newspaper Die Welt.

But Ariel Zurawski added that "one person would not have been able to over power him," as he described his 19st and 6ft tall relative.

Witnesses described seeing “rivers of blood” amid the devastation.

British tourist Sarah Dobler held one victim’s hand, and said the scene around her was “like something from a horror film”.

She said: “I’m not sure what nationality he was. I couldn’t understand what he was saying.

“He was on the floor, he was trying to get up but his head injury was quite severe.

“So I just held his hand and told him everything was going to be OK. I hope he is all right.”

26 Eyewitnesses described 'rivers of blood' in the aftermath of the incident, while one Brit tourist said it was 'like something from a horror film' Credit: Reuters

26 The truck had been hijacked while carrying steel beams from Poland to Germany, and its original driver was killed Credit: AP:Associated Press

Ian Fowles and his wife Natalie were close by when the lorry smashed into the market.

Ian, from York said yesterday: “It was really sombre this morning and it was obviously a real heavy police presence there and they ­cordoned everything off.

“We’ve been hearing sirens through the night and we feel lucky to be alive.”

Six of the 12 dead have been identified as German.

ISIS social media accounts yesterday crowed about the carnage. The terror group’s news agency hailed the attacker as “a soldier” of ISIS.

The horror came just weeks after an official ISIS magazine set out how vehicles could be used to cause mass atrocities across Europe.

The article in November’s issue of Rumiyah began by praising July’s Bastille Day attack in Nice, France — where a crazed trucker killed 86 and injured 434.

It said vehicles were “one of the safest and easiest weapons” and “the most successful in harvesting large numbers” of victims. Chillingly, it recommended jihadis use a “large load-bearing truck” for attacks — and picked out “outdoor markets” as ideal targets.

But the Berlin attacker appeared to have ignored the magazine’s final advice to become a martyr in a shoot-out with security forces.

26 ISIS have attacked civilian targets across Europe in 2016, as terror well and truly arrived on Britain's doorstep

The attack in the German capital happened at 8.14pm local time.

Police later arrested a 23-year-old Pakistani asylum seeker, identified only as Naved B.

He was held after a suspicious member of the public tailed him and kept police informed of his movements over the phone.

Naved B was arrested a mile from the scene.

Despite his fierce denials, German officials soon briefed reporters, hailing the “civic courage” of the witness in helping them find their man.

They told how their prime suspect had claimed asylum on New Year’s Eve 2015, had used at least two fake identities and had been arrested over a sex attack in July.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel visited the scene and said: “It would be particularly hard to bear for all of us if it was ­confirmed that a person committed this crime who asked for protection and asylum in Germany.”

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But then officials were forced to backtrack after discovering Naved B had no traces of blood on him.

The cab of the wrecked lorry had been covered in blood.

It emerged shortly before 7pm local time last night that Naved B had been released.

A senior security source told German newspaper Die Welt: “We have the wrong man. So we have a new situation. The true perpetrator is still armed, at large and can cause further damage.”

Holger Münch, head of the state criminal police, said: “We need to work on the assumption that an armed perpetrator is still on the loose. As a result of this we are on high alert.”

Reports in Germany claimed local cops had “no idea who they’re looking for” with “no weapon” and “no DNA traces”.

But minister de Maizière said several leads were being followed.

26 Several leads were being followed on the attacker today, according to the German Interior Minister Credit: Reuters

26 However other reports claim the German police have 'no idea' who they are looking for, and that Berlin remains a dangerous place Credit: Rex Features

Focus had also turned to Germany’s two main spy agencies.

Last month a spook working for the BfV — Germany’s MI5 — was arrested after allegedly offering to help Islamist fanatics bomb his own agency’s offices. The intelligence officer had been spotted using a fake ID in an internet chatroom.

It was later revealed the 51-year-old dad of four had been a gay porn star until 2011 — and used the same name as his online alias.

He is thought to have secretly converted to Islam two years ago and remains under investigation.

Last week it was revealed British spooks and US spies at the National Security Agency were actively refusing to share intelligence with the BND — Germany’s MI6 — over concerns about data security.

In 2014, British officials warned their German counterparts they were imposing a freeze on sharing information between MI6, GCHQ, the former Serious Organised Crime Agency and UK Border Force and the BND.

Is Britain prepared for an attack?

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