Thanks LOC; Seems the German police really did pluck a major player from the scene...
"Last week the German police arrested the creator of the Sasser worm. It received less coverage, but nearly at the same time they also made it to get the author of the far more hostile Phatbot. Axel G., 21 years old and known under the nick "Ago", is responsible for the making of the tool that can be used to steal all kinds of data and to relay (SPAM) email among other things.
The German IT news mag Heise.de did some investigation and according to their recherche Axel G. probably also was heavily involved in the Half-Life 2 code theft that happened more than 7 months ago. The source code and other assets of Valve"s shooter then were released on the internet by the perpetrator. The evidence hinting at Ago"s involvement include this chat log among other things.
The investigations are still going, in the meantime, however, the police confiscated Axel G."s passport and released him again as there"s no risk of the accused attempting to escape according to them."