German police say they have searched room of man who had dinner with main suspect, Anis Amri, before attack

This article is more than 3 years old

This article is more than 3 years old

German authorities say they have taken a 26-year-old Tunisian man into custody and are investigating whether he played a role in the truck attack that killed 12 people in Berlin before Christmas.

On Tuesday evening, police searched the room of the man, who had dinner with the Tunisian main suspect, Anis Amri, 24, a day before Amri ploughed a truck through a Christmas market on 19 December, a spokeswoman for the chief federal prosecutor said.

“This contact person is a 26-year-old Tunisian. We are investigating him for possible participation in the attack,” she told reporters.

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The spokeswoman said there was not sufficient evidence at this point to charge the man for any role in the attack.

However, the Berlin state prosecutor’s office said in a separate statement that it had detained the 26-year-old man on Tuesday evening for fraud involving social benefits.

The chief federal prosecutor’s spokeswoman said authorities were evaluating communications devices seized during that raid and the search of an apartment belonging to another man who also had contact with Amri.