Italian police have revealed that they helped dismantle a Berlin-based cell of Islamic extremists. The suspects reportedly had links to Christmas market attack suspect Anis Amri, who was shot dead in Italy.
The operation to dismantle the group was completed at the end of January but is just now being revealed. The investigation into the group began after authorities picked up two of the cell's members in the Italian port of Ancona on December 4, 2016.
Members of the terror cell reportedly had ties to Anis Amri (pictured)Image: picture alliance /Bundeskriminalamt
Congolese citizen Nkanga Lutumba and Moroccan citizen Soufiane Amri were planning to travel to Syria to join the so-called "Islamic State" (IS) terrorist group when they were picked up by the authorities, Italian police said.
From there, authorities continued their investigation into the two men, monitoring Lutumba and tracing calls back to the Berlin-based terror cell.
Links to Christmas market attacker
Three other members of the group were arrested at the border between Croatia and Serbia in December.
Italian police also said members of the terrorist cell were frequently in contact with Anis Amri, who was a regular visitor at the place where Soufiane Amri and Lutumba lived.
Parallel German investigations led to four arrests on January 31.
Germany's biggest Islamist trials
The attempted bomb attack at the Bonn train station in 2012 led to one of the highest-profile terror trials in Germany. Here's a look at some other major trials involving Islamist extremists in Germany.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/B. Marks
Failed Bonn bomb
The blue bag left on the platform at Bonn's central station in 2012 contained explosives that did not go off, but a city-wide manhunt unfolded. Marco G. was eventually arrested and charged with planting the bomb. Three others are charged with plotting to assassinate a politician from the far-right PRO-NRW party. Their group allegedly drew inspration from an Islamist movement in Uzbekistan.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa
Frankfurt airport bus attack
In March 2011, Arid Uka shot dead two US servicemen waiting for a bus at Frankfurt airport prior to deployment in Afghanistan. "This is indeed the first Islamic-motivated terror strike to have happened in Germany," the judge said, adding Uka had sought revenge for military operations in Afghanistan. Uka, born in Kosovo, acted alone and was sentenced to life in prison in February 2012.
Image: AP
The Sauerland Cell
The "Sauerland Cell" was a German cell of the Islamic Jihad Union (IJU), a terrorist group on the Pakistani-Afghan border. The four German and Turkish men had planned large-scale bomb attacks against American targets in Germany from their base in the western region of the Sauerland. Arrested in September 2007, they were sentenced in March 2010 for up to 12 years.
Image: AP
Sharia Police
Sven Lau, a Salafist Muslim, was the man behind a well-known Islamist publicity stunt. In 2014, Lau led several men around the city of Wuppertal in orange security vests labeled "Sharia police." Acting as state authorities, they warned people visiting local clubs and bars to adhere to Sharia, or Islamic law. He is currently on trial for backing a terror group fighting in Syria.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/Bildfunk/M. Becker
Big mouth
Nils D., a Salafist from Dinslaken, joined the "Islamic State" in Syria in October 2013. He tracked down the group's deserters - armed with explosives and guns. He returned to Germany a year later, and boastful statements about his time in Syria eventually got him arrested. He confessed the names of other German Islamic extremists and was sentenced to four-and-a-half years in jail.
Image: DW/M. Gopalakrishnan
"Biggest mistake of my life"
On the final day of Harry S.'s July 2016 trial, he said "going to Syria was the biggest mistake of my life." The Bremen-born Muslim convert spent three months with "Islamic State" in Syria in 2015. He wanted out after civilians were murdered for a short recruitment film he helped make. He was sentenced to three years in jail for being part of a foreign terrorist organization.
