Italian police set a trap for Madeleine McCann suspect Christian Brueckner

‘When we arrested him we could see the surprise on his face’: Italian police set a trap for Madeleine McCann suspect Christian Brueckner ‘by making a fake appointment for a new passport’

  •  Madeleine McCann suspect Christian Brueckner was arrested with a trap in Italy
  • The Italian police made a fake appointment with him for  a new passport in 2018
  • Police said he looked homeless and was holding a bible on the day of the arrest 

Italian police set up a trap for Madeleine McCann suspect Christian Brueckner by making a fake appointment for a new passport at the German consulate in Milan, it has emerged today. 

The police did not know he was a suspect in the McCann case but knew he was a fugitive when he came up for a drug conviction.  

The German had just arrived from Switzerland and said he needed new ID documents because they had been stolen from him on the train. 

When the police found the drug conviction they arranged an international arrest warrant and set up the fake appointment. 

Col Michele Miulli, commander of the Carabinieri investigative unit that planned his arrest, told the Mirror they had ‘no idea’ about Brueckner’s link to the McCann case.  

Italian police set up a trap for Madeleine McCann suspect Christian Brueckner (pictured) by making a fake appointment for a new passport at the German consulate in Milan

Col Michele Miulli (pictured), commander of the Carabinieri investigative unit that planned his arrest, told the Mirror they had no idea about Brueckner's link to the McCann case.

Col Michele Miulli (pictured), commander of the Carabinieri investigative unit that planned his arrest, told the Mirror they had no idea about Brueckner’s link to the McCann case.

Col Miulli said: 'We investigate some of the most serious crimes, but when you hear that children were involved it touches your soul. Pictured: Madeleine McCann

 Col Miulli said: ‘We investigate some of the most serious crimes, but when you hear that children were involved it touches your soul. Pictured: Madeleine McCann

Lieutenant Andrea Papa, part of the city’s elite murder squad, said that Brueckner ‘looked homeless’ on the day he was arrested. 

‘He was in jeans, trainers and a military jacket. He had no phone or money, just a Bible and a business card with his lawyer’s number,’ said  Lieutenant Andrea Papa. 

The Lieutenant said they even felt sorry for the man and offered him some water.  

Brueckner was extradited to Germany where he was also found guilty last year for raping a 72-year-old American woman in Portugal in 2005 and given seven years. 

He is appealing the conviction while he is in jail for a drug trafficking conviction arguing that his extradition was unlawful as it was for the drug conviction and not the rape conviction. 

Now that Brueckner is being investigated in the McCann case his activities in Italy before his arrest are being looked at. 

However, it is difficult to do this because there is no record of when he entered Italy or what he did there.  

Col Miulli said:  ‘We investigate some of the most serious crimes, but when you hear that children were involved it touches your soul. 

‘Anyone who touches children is evil, inhuman.’        

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