When officers called at his flat in Euskirchen, near Cologne, the door was opened by an acquaintance of the [fugitive] who was holding the dog.
The acquaintance said he did not know where the owner was.
But when the dog was set down, it led police to the cupboard, where it stood expectantly with its tail wagging.
Officers who opened the cupboard, which was just a metre (3ft 3in) high and 80cm (2ft 6in) wide, found the fugitive "hunched up inside".
