The head of the Federal Criminal Police Office (BKA), Holger Münch, has confirmed that his organization received a notice from Saudi Arabia in November 2023 about, accused of killing five people on Friday and injuring another 200 after . The police official did not offer more details about what Saudi Arabia based its alert on, although local media report that it was due to a publication on social networks.
Münch indicated that after receiving the alert from Saudi Arabia, the appropriate proceedings were initiated. “The Saxony-Anhalt police then also took appropriate investigative measures,” he explained in the program Today Journal from the German channel ZDF. However, he pointed out that it was a “non-specific” case and that although he had “several contacts with the authorities, insults and sometimes threats” the man was not known for “violent crimes.”
However, he acknowledged that in view of the incident, in which five people died – a 9-year-old boy and four women aged 45, 52, 67 and 75 – and 200 were injured, 41 of them very seriously or in critical condition, This data would need to be double-checked to see if the security authorities had missed anything. “We have a completely atypical pattern here, and now we have to analyze it calmly,” said about , who arrived in Germany in 2006 and worked in a clinic in the neighboring town of Bernburg.
In his opinion, the reasons that led the man to use his large-displacement BMW to run over people who were enjoying the Christmas market using one of the emergency exits are still too vague for a clear evaluation. According to Münch, although the suspect had an Islamophobic attitude and had also participated in far-right platforms, it is not yet possible to conclusively state that the crime was politically motivated. For his part, senior prosecutor Horst Walter Nopens announced on Saturday that the alleged perpetrator’s motive could have been discontent with the treatment of refugees in Germany.
This confirmation of the Saudi warning came a few hours after the head of the Magdeburg Police, Tom-Oliver Langhans, denied having any knowledge of it and referred to the fact that the investigations are still open. According to the South German newspaperSaudi Arabia specifically warned of a statement on social media by Taleb al Abdulmohsen in which he announced something “big” in Germany last year.
On his social networks, Taleb al Abdulmohsen spread messages critical of his former religion, considered his host country complicit with Islamism and criticized the open borders policy of former German Chancellor Angela Merkel, whom he accused of Islamizing Europe and for that requested the death penalty if it were restored. He also expressed sympathy for the far-right party Alternative for Germany (AfD) and for Elon Musk, the tycoon owner of the X network and ally of Donald Trump.
As often happens in these cases, it is now being discussed whether the security authorities could or should have acted sooner and whether they missed something. Terrorism expert Peter Neumann told ZDF that the suspect did not fit a certain mold. “He was not a typical Islamist. He was a Saudi who turned against Islam” and for the authorities, “this doesn’t really fit into the usual patterns.” The expert indicated that today there is an avalanche of information from thousands of people sending similar messages on the Internet. “And it’s very, very difficult to differentiate: Who is serious and who is just on the internet spreading slogans?”
In this context, the federal president of the German police union, Rainer Wendt, has warned against speculation about the handling of the alleged warnings about Taleb al Abdulmohsen and recalled that “now is the time to let the investigative forces work” and He asked that “the amateur police officers” restrain themselves “for once.” He also explained that the numerous contradictory information must be collated and analyzed properly, which would take time.
According to information that has been emerging since Friday, Taleb al Abdulmohsen has repeatedly attracted the attention of the authorities in the past. This is the case, for example, of the Federal Office for Migration and Refugees (Bamf), which declared on Saturday that it had received a notice at the end of summer 2023 about the man who has held refugee status since 2016. In a statement, it noted that the person who had provided the information had been sent directly to the responsible authorities, as is usual in these cases. “However, the warning was taken seriously,” they indicated from the Bamf.
Fined 900 euros
The Ministry of the Interior of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern has also reported that on April 17, 2013, Taleb al Abdulmohsen had a dispute with the medical association of the state of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern during his specialist training. During the discussion, he threatened by telephone with actions that would attract international attention and referred to the Boston Marathon bombing carried out two days before his telephone threat, in which three people lost their lives. After the threat, investigators searched his home and searched electronic devices. However, they found no evidence of concrete preparations for an attack and he was fined 900 euros for “disturbing public peace.”
Given the possible failures in the security apparatus, the parliamentary group of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) and Christian Social (CSU) in the Bundestag is pressing for an extraordinary meeting of the Interior Commission to be held before New Year’s Eve, with a view surely to the electoral campaign at the beginning of the year for the February 23 elections. Alexander Throm (CDU), domestic policy spokesman for the parliamentary group, demanded that Germany’s Interior Minister Nancy Faeser respond personally to the deputies’ questions. “She owes this respect to the five victims,” Throm told the German newspaper. Bild.
After the attack, the prosecution has requested a prison order against the detainee, accused of murder and attempted multiple murder. Taleb al Abdulmohsen appeared before the magistrate on Saturday night, police said on Sunday morning. The Magdeburg district court magistrate remanded him in custody on five counts of murder, several counts of attempted murder and several counts of serious injury. The detainee was transferred to a penitentiary center.
According to the German publication The mirrorTaleb al Abdulmohsen had made confusing statements and talked about conspiracy theories during interrogations carried out so far by the authorities, which has led to a psychological evaluation being considered likely in investigative circles.
