FARCE OF OUR OPEN BORDERS
Berlin killer slipped in and out of THREE Schengen countries before being caught by chance in Italy
‘A risk to public safety’ ‘Total security disaster’
THE Berlin truck terrorist made a mockery of Europe’s open borders before he was shot dead by police after four days on the run.
Anis Amri was apparently able to travel unhindered for around 1,000 miles through at least three countries.
Carrying no travel documents, the man who ploughed a lorry into a Christmas market killing 12 people, was able to slip from Germany into France and then into Italy.
The three countries are in the EU’s ‘borderless’ Schengen zone.
It was only when Amri was confronted by a rookie Italian policeman during a routine ID check in a northern suburb of Milan that he was finally caught. He was gunned down as he tried to flee.
Shortly before his death was announced yesterday morning, blundering German police stated they thought the 24-year-old Islamic State fanatic was still in their country. In other terrorrelated developments yesterday:
A chilling Islamic State propaganda video emerged online which featured Amri pledging allegiance to the terror organisation and vowing to slaughter ‘infidels like pigs’;
The Italian officers who tackled Amri – one of whom was shot and wounded in the exchange – were hailed as heroes;
It was claimed that Amri might have tried to make his way to Britain earlier this year.
More details of the security blunders surrounding the case emerged, with CCTV footage apparently showing Amri visiting a mosque in Berlin within hours of the attack.
The dramatic climax to Europe’s most urgent manhunt unfolded at 3am yesterday, shortly after Amri got off a train in Milan’s Sesto San Giovanni district and was seen acting suspiciously.
As he was challenged, the fugitive pulled a gun from his backpack, screamed ‘Allahu Akbar’ and opened fire on the two officers – hitting one, Christian Movio, 35, in the shoulder. His colleague, Luca Scatà, 29, a trainee police officer who had been in the job only a few months, gave chase before shooting Amri dead in the street.
While the bravery of the Italian officers was praised across the world, critics of the Schengen zone said the bungled hunt for Amri had exposed lax security across the continent. Former Ukip leader Nigel Farage tweeted, before confirmation Amri had been killed by police: ‘If the man shot in Milan is the Berlin killer, then the Schengen Area is proven to be a risk to public safety. It must go.’ Tory MEP David Campbell-Bannerman said: ‘Schengen is a terrorist’s dream as we saw with the Paris, Brussels and now Berlin attacks.
‘All terrorists need is an ID card and they can silently move around Europe. The alleged Berlin attacker moved across borders from Germany to France and then Italy without once being challenged.
‘The EU shares a big responsibility for this folly.’
French far-Right leader Marine Le Pen said the hunt for Amri was ‘symptomatic of the total security disaster represented by the Schengen area’. By the time the European arrest warrant for him was issued on Wednesday, Amri, who had used at least six different aliases with three nationalities, had vanished.
Despite being Europe’s most wanted man, he was able to cross the German border into France and make his way to Chambéry, before crossing another national border by travelling on a high speed train to Turin in northern Italy. From there, he apparently caught a regional train to Milan, arriving at 1am yesterday, before then taking another service to Sesto San Giovanni station in the suburbs.
Amri had strong links to Italy because it was the first European country he claimed asylum in in 2011 after fleeing his native Tunisia. He spent three years in jail there before being released. Police believe he may have been trying to reach southern Italy, with a view to reaching northern Africa.
Under the Schengen rules he had no need to show travel documents at national frontiers, which have been had checkpoints removed.
Milan police said Amri was carrying a few personal belongings and several hundred euros – but no mobile phone and no travel documents. ‘He was a ghost, he didn’t leave a trace,’ said Milan police chief Antonio De Lesu.
The mastermind of the Paris terror massacres had bragged of travelling across Europe at will. Despite being on wanted lists, Abdelhamid Abaaoud shuttled between Syria and Europe, taking full advantage of the migrant crisis on EU borders. A British man, who helped give out aid in the Jungle Camp near Calais, claimed he saw Amri there last January.
Mick Watson, 48, said that during a trip to the camp – where thousands of migrants were massed hoping to make their way across the Channel – he had an altercation with a Middle Eastern looking man, who he believes was Amri.
The Italian press has printed an image apparently showing a 19-year-old Amri arriving in Italy on a boat in 2011.