While the suspects played no part in the December 2016 truck attack in Berlin that killed 12 people, police discovered them by following the telephone records of Anis Amri, the Tunisian man shot dead near Milan four days after the assault on the Christmas market. They were named as Abdel Salem Napulsi, a 38-year-old Palestinian who was already being held at a Rome prison on separate drug charges, and Tunisian nationals Akram Baazaoui, Mohamed Baazoui, Dhiaddine Baazaoui and Rabie Baazoui, living in the southern cities of Naples and Caserta. The swoop is the latest in a series of similar raids this month, coming as Italy steps up the number of foreigners it expels on grounds of national security. On Wednesday a Moroccan-Italian was arrested in Turin, accused of plotting to carrying out truck attacks in Italy, while on Tuesday police detained an Egyptian-Italian suspected of seeking to radicalize youngsters at an Islamic cultural centre in Foggia. Interior Minister Marco Minniti said on Wednesday the security threat to Italy from Islamic State supporters was higher than ever because more foreign fighters were attempting to return to Europe via Italy after the jihadist group suffered defeats in Syria and Iraq. Italian authorities deported three foreign nationals he is believed to have been in touch with and who were judged a threat to national security.
Italian police arrest five Tunisians suspected of links to Anis Amri, perpetrator of the December 2016 terror attack in Germany.