BERLIN, December 23. /TASS/. German Chancellor Angela Merkel has promised to tighten security measures after the latest terrorist attack in Berlin.
"I’ve told the interior and justice ministers to pool efforts with the federal chancellor’s office, federal lands and special services to analyze each aspect for this case and to present their ideas," Merkel said. "There where there is the need for changing legislation and security measures we will take the necessary steps."
Merkel also said that in Friday’s telephone conversation with the president of Tunisia she declared the intention to speed up the deportation of migrants.
"I told him that we are going to accelerate the process of deportation and to increase the number of deportees," Merkel said.
The suspect in the Berlin terrorist attack, Tunisia-born Anis Amri, has been in Germany since 2015. In July 2016 he was denied the refugee status. His deportation from Germany was due, but it had to be postponed as there was a lack of required documents. For about six months Amri was under surveillance, but the special services eventually failed to collect enough evidence to place him in custody. According to Die Welt, the German security police BND received two warnings from Morocco secret services - in September and October 2016 - that Amir was plotting a terrorist attack.
"The Amri affair has brought up a number of questions, not just those concerning the terrorist attack but also related to his presence in Germany since July 2015," Merkel acknowledged. "We shall now see to what extent government response should be changed. One can say that there is one concrete threat less, but the threat of terror is still there, as we all know."