Portuguese police search for Madeleine McCann after 16 years

Police officers dug near a dam near where British woman Madeleine McCann disappeared in southern Portugal in 2007, and the search resumed on Tuesday.

About twenty guards with tools such as rakes and shovels formed a line and began clearing earth near the Arete Dam, 50 kilometers from Praia da Luz, where the 3-year-old girl was last seen. I saw it live 16 years ago.

Earlier, two firefighters were seen in a rubber boat in the reservoir.

Officials did not immediately comment on the progress of the search.

The operation, led by Portuguese police with the help of German and British agents, was announced on Monday. Portuguese officials said it was produced at Germany’s request.

Earlier in the day, Portuguese police had set up two blue tents and cordoned off the area. More than 12 police cars and trucks rushed to the scene early Tuesday morning.

There were 20 to 30 policemen in the area, some of them in uniform. According to eyewitnesses, the search began shortly before 08:00 am.

Portuguese media have reported that this is the fourth time McCann has been searched following an operation in the Algarve that began in 2007, and two more in 2013 and 2014. The search was last conducted in Germany in 2020.

It is believed to be the first time that the surroundings of the reservoir have been explored.

The prosecutor’s office in Braunschweig, Germany, said in a statement on Tuesday that “criminal proceedings are ongoing as part of the Madeleine McCann case investigation in Portugal.”

“These measures are being used by the Portuguese Prosecutor’s Office’s mutual legal assistance with the support of agents from the Federal Criminal Police Office,” the note added.

According to the report, authorities are not releasing “detailed information about the background (…) for investigative tactical reasons.”

In mid-2020, German police identified Christian Bruckner, a 45-year-old German from the Algarve in 2007, as a suspect in the case. Bruckner has denied any involvement.

Bruckner is serving a seven-year prison sentence in Germany for rape in 2005 in Portugal.

The suspect is on trial on suspicion of murder in the McCann case, but has not been charged. He spent several years in Portugal, including Praia da Luz at the time of Madeleine’s disappearance.

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