Berlin truck attacker 'may have procured gun in Switzerland'

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The Tunisian man who killed 12 people last month by ploughing a truck into a Berlin Christmas market made several trips to Switzerland ahead of the atrocity, and may have procured the gun that he used to hijack the vehicle used in the attack there, German broadcaster ZDF reported.

"A lot speaks for that in the investigations so far," ZDF said of the possibility that Anis Amri, a failed asylum seeker from Tunisia, obtained the gun in Switzerland.

Photo shows 24-year-old Anis Amri, the suspect in Berlin’s deadly truck attack, in a portrait held by brother Walid Amri in front of the family in Tunisia on December 23, 2016. /CFP Photo

Analysis of data from Amri's mobile phone indicated that he had visited Switzerland many times, ZDF reported, without citing its source. Amri was killed in a shootout with police in Milan on December 23, 2016.

Switzerland's Office of the Attorney General (OAG) said on Wednesday it had opened criminal proceedings in connection with the Berlin attack on December 19.

A lorry smashed into a busy Christmas market in Berlin on December 19, 2016, leaving a scene of chaos on December 20, 2016. /CFP Photo

The OAG neither confirmed nor denied that the suspect had stayed in Switzerland or had obtained the gun in the country.

"The OAG has opened criminal proceedings against unknown persons based on information from abroad," an OAG spokeswoman said in a statement on Saturday.

A Christmas tree on the street beside the empty Christmas market in Berlin, Germany, December 21, 2016. A truck ploughed through a crowd at the market on December 19, 2016. /CFP Photo

The attorney general's office said the information received was related to contact data linked to Amri.

"The aim of the criminal procedure is to clarify possible points of contact with Switzerland which could be of interest to foreign colleagues," the spokeswoman said, adding this applied to information about logistics, people and the weapon. "At the moment there is no verified information."

(Story by Reuters)