Police in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany: Arrested Iranian has 27 fake identities and a criminal record

On Friday, October 20, the police in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany, announced that an Iranian man arrested for arson and attempting to set fire to a cinema in the city of Krefeld has a criminal record and 27 fake identities. The police stated that the suspect had previously been convicted in the summer of 2021 for violence, assault, threats, and damage to public property, receiving a sentence of four and a half years in prison from the Krefeld District Court. The North Rhine-Westphalia Refugee Organization in Düsseldorf also reported that the 38-year-old man first entered Germany in 2002 and has not yet obtained residency, currently living in the country without residency and under a 'toleration' permit. According to published reports, this man has used various fake names to obtain residency permits in Germany, totaling 27 identities. Earlier, media outlets had reported his nationality as Iraqi. On the evening of Thursday, October 19, an Iranian man committed arson at several locations in Krefeld, Germany, and then entered a cinema in the city center with incendiary devices such as Molotov cocktails, aiming to set it on fire. He was arrested by police after shots were fired and was sent to the hospital due to injuries sustained. The police stated that the motive for his actions is still unclear, but no evidence of a terrorist attack has been found.