An Afghan national who ploughed into a group of demonstrators in Munich in a suspected attack has been pictured for the first time.
Munich Police have identified Farhad N as the man behind the wheel of a white Mini Cooper that smashed into a group of union members demonstrating on the city streets yesterday. Local officials, namely the city’s mayor Deiter Reiter, have said they believed the incident was an attack on members of the Verdi union, who were left shocked by the “incomprehensible” act.
While police are yet to confirm the full identity of the man involved – who has remained in Germany after officials denied an asylum application – the 24-year-old has been pictured as new details emerge about his personal and professional life. Farhad N was reportedly a security service employee and keen bodybuilder who had amassed a massive number of followers on social media.
The Daily Mail reports that, alongside working for the security service, Farhad participated in bodybuilding competitions in his spare time. His hobby, the publication adds, allowed him to amass scores of followers, with more than 100,000 flocking to his accounts on Instagram and TikTok to follow his fitness journey.
Pictures show the bronzed Afghan standing outside in the sun and flexing his muscles, and posing with the white Mini Cooper believed to have smashed into the crowd of people on Thursday morning. Farhad is suspected to injuring at least 30 people, two of whom have been rushed to hospital in critical condition following the incident.
He was reportedly already known to local police for drugs and theft when he is said to have accelerated his car into the crowd on Thursday, hitting 30mph and ploughing into 1,000 strikers. German tabloid Bild has reported that he is now being quizzed by terrorism experts after it was discovered he had posted Islamist content online before the incident.
The tabloid reported that there were “indications of an extremist background”. He was apprehended at the scene of the crash on Thursday, with videos showing the moment armed police wrestled him to the ground outside his car. While he is no longer believed to be a threat, the German government has pledged to send Farhad back to Afghanistan.
German Chancellor sad in a statement on Thursday: “This perpetrator cannot hope for any leniency. He must be punished and he must leave the country.”
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