Berlin attack: how a radical once jailed for ISIS ties was back on the streets — and ploughed into a crowd

In Berlin on Saturday, 21-year-old Abdul B. drove a car into a crowd of people, killing one woman and injuring 31 others. The man had previously served time in prison for attempting to join the terrorist group "Islamic State" in Syria, but a court released him after just a few months, citing his young age among other factors.

As Seznam Zprávy analyst Martin Jonáš points out, this is not the first time German authorities have failed to keep a potentially dangerous Islamist under control — with tragic consequences.

According to German intelligence services, the country has hundreds of radical Islamists on file who are believed capable of carrying out an attack at any moment. Of these, around 150 are currently at large. Keeping just one suspect under round-the-clock surveillance requires a double-digit number of police officers — meaning the state simply doesn't have the resources to monitor more than a fraction of these individuals.

Abdul B.'s phone was being tapped, and a surveillance camera had even been set up outside his home. Yet none of this was enough to prevent the attack. The incident has once again raised questions about why Germany is struggling to keep potentially dangerous Islamists in check, prompting politicians to call for tougher legislation.

Source: seznamzpravy.cz