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SECURITY

Berlin to open anti-terrorism centre near old airport in 2020

Starting in 2020, some 1,200 special officers will work out of Berlin's new anti-terror centre, which will have a floor devoted to stopping Islamic terrorism.

Berlin to open anti-terrorism centre near old airport in 2020
The entrance to the planned centre. Credit: DPA

The fight against terrorism will soon have a new base in Berlin: a sprawling Weimar-era post office.

The Special Operations Command, the Mobile Task Force and the Department for Combating Islamic Terrorism are all to move to Berlin’s former Reichspostzentralamt in Tempelhof, reported the Berliner Morgenpost on Thursday,

Starting in 2020, around 1,200 special officers will work out of the Bauhaus building constructed in the 1920s, the newspaper reported from an internal paper about the plan it acquired along with broadcaster RBB. A whole floor in the building will be devoted to combating Islamic terrorism.

Over a year after a deadly Christmas market attack on Breitscheidplatz carried out by Tunisian terrorist Anis Amri, the aim of the centre is to improve communication and cooperation in combating terrorism, according to Interior Senator Andreas Geisel (SPD).

In the case of Amri, state and local police forces did not cooperate effectively, missing several pieces of evidence that could have stopped the attack which left 12 people dead and 49 injured, according to an investigation led by special state investigator Bruno Jost.

At the end of last year, Berlin's coalition government of the SPD, Greens and Left Party agreed to the construction of the centre, with €25 million earmarked for its conversion. An additional 100 million euros are earmarked for the 15 year-rental period of the building and the operating costs.

Security authorities have praised the location, according to the Morganpost, as it situation just off the highway, and can easily be reached. The building currently houses offices from Deutsche Telekom and the administration for the Museum of Communications.

Police and security forces have also faced a shortage of space – especially with many new hires to come on board soon.

“We urgently need new capacity because our colleagues squeezed in [to current space],” Benjamin Jendro, spokesman for the Union of Police, told the Morgenpost.

However, he said, a solution to the shortage of space and new spaces must also be found before the planned move in 2020, as current conditions are unacceptable. “This is against the guidelines of occupational safety and health,” said Jendro.

TERRORISM

Italian police arrest Algerian wanted for alleged IS ties

Police in Milan said on Thursday they had arrested a 37-year-old Algerian man in the subway, later discovering he was wanted for alleged ties to Islamic State.

Italian police arrest Algerian wanted for alleged IS ties

When stopped by police officers for a routine check, the man became “particularly aggressive”, said police in Milan, who added the arrest took place “in recent days”.

He was “repeatedly shouting ‘Allahu Akbar’ while attempting to grab from his backpack an object that turned out to be a knife with a blade more than 12cm (nearly five inches) long,” they said in a statement.

The man was later found to be wanted by authorities in Algeria, suspected since 2015 of belonging to “Islamic State militias and employed in the Syrian-Iraqi theatre of war,” police said.

Police said the suspect was unknown to Italian authorities.

The man is currently in Milan’s San Vittore prison and awaiting extradition, they added.

Jihadist group IS proclaimed a “caliphate” in 2014 across swathes of Syria and Iraq, launching a reign of terror that continues with hit-and-run attacks and ambushes.

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