File photo: AFPUPDATED: Italian police said on Friday they had helped their German counterparts neutralize a Berlin-based Islamist terror cell with links to Christmas market attack suspect Anis Amri. Italian authorities believe Congolese national Nkanga Lutumba, 26, and Moroccan Soufiane Amri, 22, were planning to travel to Istanbul en route to joining Islamic State in Iraq or Syria. Their departure was delayed by a Greek ferry strike and it was during the unexpected delay that they were subject to an identity check which revealed that Germany had banned Soufiane Amri from leaving the country. Several members of the Berlin group had contact with Anis Amri and the suspected marketplace attacker was a regular visitor to lodgings shared by Soufiane Amri and Lutumba, according to the Italian police. Italy has carried out 38 expulsions of this type this year and 170 since the start of 2015, the ministry said.

Source: The Local April 28, 2017 10:30 UTC