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BERLIN (AP) — A 12-year-old Swiss boy was liberated from the home of a 35-year-old man by police in the western German city of Duesseldorf early Sunday.
The boy from the small Swiss community of Gunzgen had been missing for over a week, Duesseldorf police said in a statement.
Swiss prosecutors from the town of Solothurn near Gunzgen said in a statement that the boy had run away from home after meeting the man on the internet while playing online games.
On Saturday, Swiss authorities tipped off their German colleagues that a man in Duesseldorf may be behind the boy's disappearance and a special police unit stormed his apartment early Sunday.
Police said the boy appeared physically unharmed and both the boy and his parents were overjoyed when they were reunited later on Sunday. The man, a German citizen, was arrested.
Police did not release the man's identity and said for investigative reasons they could not yet speak about his motives and background.
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