The German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and other politicians will visit are at the site of the bloody attack that targeted visitors to a street market Natale. Police have arrested a 50-year-old Saudi doctor who is believed to be responsible for the death of two people and the wounding of 68 others when the SUV he was driving plowed into a crowd last night in Magdeburg. The police have not yet established whether the attack could be Islamist-motivated or linked to the driver's psychological problems. “The reasons remain mysterious,” wrote the weekly Der Spiegel.
The attack came nearly eight years after Germany suffered the deadliest jihadist attack in history, when a Tunisian drove a truck through a Berlin Christmas market, killing 13 people.
The toll of the attack on the Magdeburg Christmas market “is even more terrible than we could have estimated last night: 5 people died and over 200 injured, many of them seriously”. The governor of the Land of Saxony-Anhalt, Reiner Haseloff, said this during a press point with Chancellor Olaf Scholz.
Positive on drug test
After the horrific murder that took place at the Christmas market in Magdeburg, Bild learned from police sources that Taleb A. (50 years old) had allegedly taken drugs. An initial drug test came back positive.
The “Drugwipe” test is a proven tool used by the police to identify possible drug use by criminals or drink drivers as a first measure. Saliva is collected from suspects with a stick and dripped onto a test strip. Different colors then show the agents the respective pharmaceutical substance.
The wipe test can detect use of up to seven types of drugs, including cannabis, opiates, cocaine, amphetamines, methamphetamines (MDMA, ecstasy) and benzodiazepines.
