Global terrorist Carlos the Jackal was feted, pampered by Stasi backers

LONDON - Recent evidence on global terrorist Carlos the Jackal has shown that he was not only supplied weapons and given sanctuary by the East German secret police, but also feted and pampered by them.

German news magazine Focus obtained paperwork, which revealed just how extensive the support for Carlos, real name Illich Ramirez Sanchez, was, the Daily Mail reported.

Carlos, who was responsible for at least 80 deaths in global terror outrages, was given a staff of 75 to plot further deaths and provided with guns, explosives and an archive of forged papers.

He was also provided with a network of safe houses and accomplices who included nursing sisters, lecturers, actors, union officials, apprentices and at least one physician.

The Stasi repaired his cars for him, sent staff to ensure that his telephones were secure at all times, and treated him and his partner, West German terrorist Johannes Weinrich, like visiting Politburo members from Moscow.

The file revealed that his relationship with the Stasi was so close that his handlers knew the times and places of planned attacks and this was information shared with the KGB in Moscow.

It is believed the East German officials embraced Carlos because they viewed him as an enemy of capitalism who would do much of their dirty work for them.

Carlos developed links with the Stasi in the late 70s, and in the early 1980s he was said to have behind a string of atrocities in France.

He was tracked down to Sudan in 1994, and convicted of murder in France in 1997 and is now serving a life sentence. (ANI)