Dusseldorf sex assaults: Moroccan suspect arrested after he agreed to appear in documentary about pickpockets

The man appeared in a documentary named 'King of the Pickpockets'

A woman protests in front of Hauptbahnhof main railway station against the New Year's Eve sex attacks on 9 January, 2016, in Cologne, Germany (Sascha Schuermann/Getty Images)

A suspect in the New Year's Eve sex attacks in Düsseldorf has been arrested after the woman he is accused of assaulting identified him in a documentary.

The 18-year-old woman, who has not been named, spotted the 33-year-old Moroccan man when he appeared on a documentary about petty crime called "King of the Pickpockets" on Spiegel TV.

She reported him to police and he was arrested on Saturday morning.

The teenager alleges the man put his hand under her skirt, but she managed to break free.

She says he then chased her and assaulted her again, before threatening to hit her when she struggled - but he was stopped by other men who were with him.

While the suspect has not been named by police, Blid newspaper identified him as Taoufik M, a Moroccan man who has lived in Germany for two years.

"The man was one of a larger group of foreigners who carried out repeated sexual assaults and physical harassment," Düsseldorf police said in a statement.

When interviewed for the documentary, he denied allegations he was the leader of a gang of petty criminals operating in Düsseldorf.

Sexual assaults took place in a number of German cities on New Year's Eve.