Magdeburg attacker: Did authorities ignore warning signals?

This article first appeared at ntv.de.

Authorities in at least six federal states dealt with the Magdeburg driver who later died before the attack. This emerges from a confidential report to the Bundestag on the authorities’ handling of Taleb A., as the “Spiegel” writes. The 16-page document was created by the Federal Criminal Police Office (BKA) and is available to the magazine. This Thursday, the Bundestag’s Interior Committee will look into the death journey.

According to “Spiegel”, the BKA lists 105 events since 2013 that are related to A. 14 investigations were carried out against the doctor from Saudi Arabia in the years before the attack, most of which were closed. A. himself filed 18 reports against others, in particular he bombarded a refugee aid association with sometimes confusing accusations. But his anger was also directed against judges and prosecutors, and he is even said to have threatened his own lawyer.

According to the BKA report, A. was convicted twice, most recently the day before the bloody crime in Magdeburg for misusing emergency calls. It is case number 105 in the chronology of his case.

According to the BKA, the “Spiegel” continues, authorities in Saxony-Anhalt, Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, North Rhine-Westphalia, Berlin, Hamburg and Bavaria were involved with the later attacker. There are also a number of federal authorities, from the BKA to the Federal Intelligence Service and the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution to the Chancellery.

The Saudi Arabian authorities apparently contacted the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution for the first time in July 2014. A. threatened her ambassador that he would take revenge. The matter also reached the BKA. In 2023 and 2024, Saudi Arabian authorities repeatedly pointed out Internet postings to the BND and other authorities in which A. threatened violence. Police officers in Saxony-Anhalt visited him twice for so-called threats, apparently without success.

According to the report, A. also contacted the Federal Ministry of the Interior several times. In February 2023, he sent, among other things, this sentence via the contact form: “Do you have to kill 20 people on the streets of Berlin in Germany to get justice?”