A Tunisian man suspected of involvement in a truck attack in Berlin was in contact with extremist militants in North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW) and was known to German security agencies, the state’s Interior Minister said on Wednesday.

“Security agencies exchanged their findings and information about this person with the Joint Counter-Terrorism Centre in November 2016,” NRW Interior Minister Ralf Jaeger told a news conference.

He said the suspect had applied for asylum in Germany and his application was rejected in July. Attempts to deport the man to Tunisia failed as he did not have identification papers, and the Tunisian authorities disputed whether he was their national.

He had moved from NRW to Berlin in February 2016 and sought to make the German capital his new home, Jaeger said, adding that the Tunisian man sought by police had used different names.