Boy rescued from the attic of an older man he met playing Minecraft.

A 12-year-old boy who vanished from his home in Switzerland has been rescued from an attic in Germany after meeting a 35-year-old man while playing Minecraft.

German special police stormed the home of a Düsseldorf man, nearly 600km from the boy’s house, on Sunday morning, following an international investigation that was assisted by the FBI.

The man, who had not been identified, was arrested under suspicion of sexual abuse of a minor and false imprisonment, according to swissinfo.ch. There are also reports he was in possession of child pornography.

The boy, named only as ‘Paul’, vanished from his Solothurn home on June 18, after telling his parents he was going to ride his bike. When he failed to return for dinner, the family alerted police.

Local authorities believe he ran away to meet the man after communicating with him via the online game, Minecraft.

It remains unclear, however, how Paul reached Düsseldorf or if he had entered the home voluntarily.

A police spokesperson was unable to comment on the man’s motives, saying only that it is too early to begin criminal proceedings in relation to sexual abuse.

“We have already spoken intensively with Paul in the presence of his parents,” said the spokesperson according to swissinfo.ch.

“We are getting an image of what exactly happened, but we still need to complete the investigation.”