Berlin, March 1 -- Investigative journalists using artificial-intelligence tools were on the trail of a fugitive member of the notorious Red Army Faction well before German police announced a breakthrough in the 30-year-old case earlier this week.

Daniela Klette, 65, a member of the leftist militant group, was arrested on Monday in her Berlin flat on suspicion of committing a string of robberies and at least one attempted murder between 1999 and 2016 to finance her underground life.

German police and security services have drawn criticism over their failures in some politically charged investigations.

Their defenders say strict privacy laws limit their ability to use the kinds of artificial intelligence-enhanced tools that a German TV ...