A renewed search in the case of missing British child Madeleine McCann, which recently took place in Portugal, has returned “a number” of finds, police confirmed.
The search of a dam in the Algarve region, conducted by local police and aided by German and British colleagues, took place over three days. German authorities have now provided an update on the search.
“A number of items were seized as part of the operation. These will be evaluated in the coming days and weeks,” a spokesperson said at the Braunschweig Public Prosecutor’s Office in Germany.
“It is not yet possible to say whether some of the items are actually related to the Madeleine McCann case.”
Further details on the findings are yet to be released.
McCann disappeared from her bed in Praia da Luz in 2007, aged three. Sixteen years later, official have now searched the Arade dam in the Algarve region, about 50 kilometres from the holiday home she was last seen in.
Associated Press reported that Portuguese detectives issued a statement, saying that the search was resumed at the request of German authorities. It was believed to be the first search of the dam area.
Investigators did not release details of what led them to search the dam or what they were looking for.
However, the BBC reported that bags of evidence were spotted being collected by the police during their search of the reservoir. Media and onlookers were cordoned off from the scene so it is unclear exactly what was in these bags.
The publication reported that German state prosecutor Hans Christian Wolters told Germany’s NDR, they “have grounds to believe” evidence could be found in the dam area.
Wolters was unable to divulge what grounds they were, but did insinuate that their probe was targeted.
“They are not tips that come from the accused… but you can imagine that we don’t start searching somewhere in Portugal on the off chance, but that there must be a good reason for it,” he is reported to have told German TV channel RTL.
Police have since ended the search, divulging no clues about what they found in the desolate landscape, only confirming they seized several items.
Upon the conclusion of the search, a simple statement was released by Portugal’s Judiciary Police saying that the material collected would be given to German authorities for examination. Wolters alluded that an update may be given in the coming weeks on the results of the search.
The activity on the case follows the identification of a 45 year-old German citizen, Christian Brueckner, as a lead suspect in the McCann case.
He was in the Algarve in 2007 and is currently serving a seven-year sentence in Germany for a 2005 rape in Portugal. He denies any involvement with Madeleine’s disappearance and is yet to be charged with anything in relation to it.
It’s clear that the police force looking into this case – spanning Britain, Portugal and now Germany – are still trying to figure out what happened that evening in the Portuguese holiday resort on May 3, 2007.
Madeleine McCann was in the same room as her brother and sister, both aged two, while her parents Gerry and Kate had dinner at a nearby restaurant with friends. The parents took turns on checking on the children, but when her mother Kate went back to the room at 10pm, Madeleine was gone.
Prosecutor Wolters has said the conclusion of the search will “take a little time”.
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