Following the disappearance of six-year-old Arian from Bremervörde in the north of Lower Saxony, the investigative group currently has no concrete information.

In principle, there are a lot of clues, including well-intentioned tips, said a police spokesman. However, there were initially no concrete indications. The investigators had previously stopped the active search for the autistic boy to the extent that they had previously. However, they announced that they would continue to do everything they could to solve the case. “We thought we would find him,” said the spokesman. The investigators continued to assume that it was a missing person case.

"You can't keep up these high levels of search effort all the time," a police spokesman had previously said. The investigation phase is now underway - targeted searches will be carried out if there is a clue. Arian's father reported the child's disappearance on Monday evening last week. A surveillance camera recorded the boy running into a nearby forest. After that, his trail went cold. His hometown is in the district of Rotenburg (Wümme) between Bremerhaven and Hamburg.

800 people on duty every day

In the past few days, the emergency services have searched 5,300 hectares on land, water and from the air - this corresponds to an area of ​​more than 7,500 football fields. Around 800 people searched every day, including many special forces with dogs, horses, helicopters, drones, tornado planes, amphibious vehicles, boats and diving equipment - initially without success. Arian is autistic and, according to an expert, could not respond to calls.