GETTY Security guards on patrol near Cologne cathedral on New Year's Eve

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The astonishing lapse is highlighted in an internal police report presented to the North Rhine-Westphalia state parliament Internal State Minister Ralf Jaeger. The heavily redacted report revealed: “Three security guards were flagged in the list of security personnel for New Year's Eve, two of whom are criminal biker gang members wanted by arrest warrants and one man who is said to be part of an Islamic terrorist environment."

GETTY New Year's Eve in Cologne

Incredible! That biker gang members or even potential terrorists simply get high-visibility jackets and should ensure security on New Year's Eve makes me speechless Marc Luerbke

Liberal state politician Marc Luerbke said: "Incredible! That biker gang members or even potential terrorists simply get high-visibility jackets and should ensure security on New Year's Eve makes me speechless." Around 1,500 officials were on duty including five 100-strong riot police squads. Around 300 police officers patrolled busy areas around the Cathedral, the main station and the old town. In the event the evening passed off peacefully and senior police officers said they were not convinced the men listed were actually working in the city as security guards. But it remains a highly sensitive issue following revelations from last December when it was leaked that the city of Cologne secretly hired dozens of refugees to work as security guards during the infamous New Year's sex attacks.

GETTY New Year's Eve passed off quietly thanks to a huge security operation

While the horrific night of sex attacks and muggings began to unfold some security guards hired straight out of asylum centres by a private security firm had been spotted drinking, and at least 10 had vanished almost as soon as they had been let off the bus despite the fact that the subcontractor charged the city in full for their work. The Cologne police report also reveals the city was on high alert against potential terror attacks on New Year’s Eve after the Berlin terror attack two weeks earlier in which 12 people were killed and 56 others injured when failed Tunisian asylum seeker Anis Amri ploughed a stolen lorry into a Christmas market.

GETTY Police and secuity guards monitor New Year's Eve celebrations in Cologne

Cologne: Sex Attacks and Robberies Tue, January 12, 2016 Thirty-one suspects, including 18 asylum seekers, are under investigation over offences including sexual assault and theft in Cologne on New Year's Eve. Far right protestors in Lepzig have rallied against refugees and German chancellor Angela Merkel. Play slideshow Reuters•Getty 1 of 22 Protestors in Lepzig rally after over 100 women were sexually assualted on New Year's Eve