Madeleine McCann: Police digging near reservoir

Police officers person started digging adjacent a reservoir successful Portugal successful the long-running probe into the disappearance of Madeleine McCann.

The Arade dam is 31 miles (50km) from wherever the British toddler went missing successful Praia da Luz 16 years ago.

The cognition is being led by German constabulary looking for grounds to nexus her disappearance to Christian Brueckner.

The 45-year-old German nationalist was made a ceremonial suspect, oregon an "arguido", by Portuguese prosecutors successful 2022.

Brueckner is known to person visited the picturesque spot astir the clip Madeleine, who would present beryllium 20, went missing.

Early connected Tuesday, constabulary teams acceptable up tents astir the dam.

Officers from Portugal, Germany and the UK held briefings, arsenic divers gathered nearby. Officers successful boats went retired into the reservoir and sniffer dogs worked their mode on the bank.

Around luncheon time, much than 20 officers were digging beside the reservoir. A fig of bags person been taken distant from the hunt area, though it is not known what is successful them.

There are reportedly 4 areas of involvement to beryllium searched this week.

A abbreviated connection from the prosecutor's bureau successful the German metropolis of Braunschweig has confirmed the hunt but did not accidental wherefore it was taking place.

The Metropolitan Police said its officers were successful Portugal truthful they tin pass Madeleine's household of immoderate developments.

It is not the archetypal clip the reservoir has been searched arsenic portion of the investigation.

In 2008, Portuguese lawyer Marcos Aragao Correia paid specializer divers to cheque the waterway aft an evident tip-off from transgression contacts that Madeleine's assemblage was successful the water.

Madeleine, from Rothley, Leicestershire, was 3 years aged erstwhile she went missing connected 3 May 2007 portion connected vacation with her household successful the Algarve edifice of Praia da Luz.

Her parents, Kate and Gerry, had gone for meal with a radical of friends astatine a edifice restaurant, leaving Madeleine and her younger member and sister sleeping successful their flat 100 yards away.

The adults had devised a rota to cheque connected each of the group's children during the evening. But erstwhile it was Kate's turn, she discovered Madeleine had gone.

Hans Christian Wolters, German authorities authoritative successful Braunschweig, is treating Brueckner arsenic the main fishy successful the McCann case, though helium has ne'er been charged implicit Madeleine's disappearance and has denied immoderate involvement.

The authorities authoritative said a increasing magnitude of grounds had connected Brueckner to the case, including his mobile telephone records showing helium was successful the Praia de Luz country astatine the clip of Madeleine's disappearance.

On Tuesday, Mr Wolters told the BBC that Portuguese constabulary were helping with the hunt due to the fact that of ineligible restrictions for German constabulary to run abroad.

Brueckner is presently successful situation successful Germany for the rape of a 72-year-old pistillate successful 2005 successful the aforesaid country wherever Madeleine went missing.

He was surviving adjacent the Praia da Luz edifice erstwhile the McCann household was connected holiday, and spent clip successful the country betwixt 2000 and 2017.

The astir caller hunt successful Portugal successful narration to Madeleine's disappearance was successful 2014, erstwhile British constabulary were fixed support to analyse scrubland adjacent wherever she vanished.