Madeleine McCann search update as £300k police operation comes to an end
Investigators applauded and shook hands after three days of searching.
Police and firefighters have wrapped up three days of searching scrubland and abandoned buildings in Portugal, as part of a £300,000 operation into the disappearance of Madeleine McCann in 2007.
Officers were seen holding pitchforks as they scoured land on the outskirts of the Algarve town of Lagos on Thursday, June 5. Chainsaws, diggers and a ground-penetrating radar were also utilised.
Investigators, who came from both Germany and Portugal, congratulated and embraced each other at the conclusion of the searches in Atalaia, which saw samples of potential evidence taken, WalesOnline reports.
Those involved carried out a debrief before leaving the area, with a round of applause before a crate of German beer was produced from the base tent. The blustery conditions meant they struggled to dismantle some of their tents.
British police officers were not involved in these searches, the Metropolitan Police confirmed.
The latest search efforts, 18 years after Madeleine's disappearance in Praia da Luz, were requested as part of the German authorities' ongoing attempts to gather evidence to implicate prime suspect Christian Brueckner, who is behind bars for the rape of a 72-year-old woman in the same area in 2005.
The Mirror reported how officers were spotted carrying away boxes containing soil, a child's car seat and white bags filled with unknown contents.
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Searches in the early days of her disappearance focused on the Praia da Luz resort, when she vanished from her family's holiday apartment. Her parents Kate and Scots-born Gerry were dining with friends at a restaurant 100 yards away while the children slept.
Staff from the Find Madeleine Campaign said Kate and Gerry had not commented during the "active police investigation".
In 2023, further searches were conducted near the Barragem do Arade reservoir, around 30 miles from where Madeleine went missing. Christian Brueckner spent time in the area between 2000 and 2017, documented in photos and videos of himself near the reservoir.
Brueckner is expected to be released from prison this September if no further charges are brought against him.
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