BERLIN, Feb 3: The German government dismissed a press report on Thursday which claimed it had granted visas to two Chechens suspected of involvement in the bloody hostage-taking at a Moscow theatre in 2002.
The mass market Bild newspaper reported that a senior police official had admitted that the men, who are brothers, had been granted visas several times despite warnings from Russian authorities.
But a spokeswoman for the German foreign ministry said all security precautions had been taken and that neither of the men had shown up in a database of terrorist suspects.
There had been nothing on record to prevent the men receiving visas, the spokeswoman said, who added she had no idea of their current where abouts. Bild said the two men had taken part in the 2002 hostage-taking in which 129 theatregoers and 41 Chechen fighters died.
Germany's federal police agency considers the men to be "Arab mujahideen" who had close contacts to Al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden, Bild said. The head of the police union, Konrad Freiberg, said this case showed that the immigration authorities had failed to heed security warnings.
"What is the point of liaison officers from the federal criminal agency sitting in the foreign representations of almost every security-sensitive country when security aspects are not sufficiently taken into consideration?" Freiberg said.
Germany's approach to issuing visas through its consulates between 2000 and 2003 is currently mired in controversy. A parliamentary committee began work last month to investigate whether the policy was too lax and could have encouraged people smuggling. -AFP
