Police combing 'vast' area of Portugal's Algarve in Madeleine McCann case
A criminal police investigator walks near ruins as the police resumes the search for the body of Madeleine McCann, who went missing in the Portuguese Algarve in May 2007, in Atalaia, Portugal, June 3, 2025. REUTERS/Pedro Nunes
A police barrier blocks a road as police resumes the search for the body of Madeleine McCann, who went missing in the Portuguese Algarve in May 2007, in Atalaia, Portugal, June 3, 2025. REUTERS/Pedro Nunes
A car is seen as the police resumes the search for the body of Madeleine McCann, who went missing in the Portuguese Algarve in May 2007, in Atalaia, Portugal, June 3, 2025. REUTERS/Pedro Nunes
Police officers move a barrier blocking a road as they resume the search for the body of Madeleine McCann, who went missing in the Portuguese Algarve in May 2007, in Atalaia, Portugal, June 3, 2025. REUTERS/Pedro Nunes
LAGOS, Portugal - Portuguese and German police on Tuesday launched joint searches of a "vast" area in Portugal's southern Algarve region for new evidence related to the 2007 disappearance of three-year-old British child Madeleine McCann.
Portugal's investigative Judicial Police (PJ) had said on Monday they would execute search warrants between June 2 and 6 at the behest of the public prosecutor's office in Germany's Braunschweig, which in 2022 formally identified German national Christian Brueckner as an official suspect in the case.
A source involved in the search operation said the targeted area was "vast" with police using ground-penetrating radar across several hectares. Portuguese officers were following instructions from German police under a European Investigation Order.
The scale of the searches could be the most extensive since the initial investigation was closed in 2008.
Fresh but relatively focused searches were ordered by Portuguese, British and German police of scrubland, wells and reservoirs in 2014, 2020 and 2023. None of these searches were confirmed to have yielded significant evidence.
Reuters footage showed uniformed PJ officers on a cordon on a dirt road in Atalaia - a neighbourhood of Lagos municipality - waving through unmarked vans and cars with German license plates from the city of Wiesbaden, where the Federal Criminal Police Office (BKA) has its headquarters.
The BKA is assisting Portuguese law enforcement with "criminal procedural measures", Braunschweig prosecutors told Reuters, declining to provide further details.
The occupants of one of the German vehicles wore bucket hats, clothing with camouflage patterns and covered their faces with bandanas.
A van belonging to Portugal's Maritime Police also arrived. That force has jurisdiction over coastal areas and took part in previous searches of beaches, wells and reservoirs using specialist divers.
The road the police cordoned off is located close to a golf course and less than 1 km (0.6 miles) from the beach. The search area was close to a property that Brueckner lived in, a neighbour told Reuters in 2020, though when was unclear.
Madeleine went missing on May 3, 2007, while on holiday with her family in the Algarve town of Praia da Luz, sparking a frenzied search and gaining the attention of the world's media. She has never been found.
German police said in June 2020 that Madeleine was assumed dead and Brueckner, in his 40s, was probably responsible. He has denied responsibility.
Brueckner, a convicted child abuser and drug dealer, is behind bars in Germany for raping a 72-year-old woman in the same area of the Algarve. His sentence runs until September, meaning he is set for release unless prosecutors find enough evidence to charge him over Madeleine's disappearance.
On Jan. 17 Sky News quoted the German prosecutor investigating Madeleine's disappearance as saying there was currently no prospect of charges being brought against Brueckner. REUTERS
Join ST's Telegram channel and get the latest breaking news delivered to you.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Straits Times
31 minutes ago
- Straits Times
US House speaker Johnson will travel to Israel June 22
FILE PHOTO: U.S. House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) speaks with members of the media, on the day of a closed House Republican Conference meeting on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C., U.S., May 20, 2025. REUTERS/Ken Cedeno/ File Photo US House speaker Johnson will travel to Israel June 22 U.S. House Speaker Mike Johnson will travel to Israel to address the parliament on June 22, he said on Wednesday. "Our ties run deeper than military partnerships and trade agreements," Johnson said in an emailed statement. Punchbowl News, which first reported Johnson's plan, said the House Speaker was expected to meet Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Jerusalem during the trip. Johnson did not provide further details on the planned trip. Johnson announced the visit as Israel presses on with its military campaign in the Gaza Strip, more than 20 months after it launched its offensive there in response to a deadly incursion into Israel led by Palestinian militant group Hamas. On Tuesday, Australia, Britain, Canada, New Zealand and Norway imposed sanctions on far-right Israeli cabinet ministers Itamar Ben-Gvir and Bezalel Smotrich, accusing them of repeatedly inciting violence against Palestinians in the West Bank. Israel called the action "outrageous" and said the Israeli government would hold a meeting early next week to decide how to respond. REUTERS Join ST's Telegram channel and get the latest breaking news delivered to you.
Straits Times
32 minutes ago
- Straits Times
Kosovo accepts US request to host third-party deportees
PRISTINA - Kosovo has accepted a request to receive migrants deported from the United States, with an initial plan to take in 50 deportees per year, the government said in a statement to Reuters on Wednesday. "The government has expressed its readiness to participate, with the opportunity to select individuals from a proposed pool, provided they meet specific criteria related to the rule of law and public order," it said. The United States is on the look-out for partners to receive third party nationals as it seeks to deliver on President Donald Trump's promise of record-level deportations. Kosovo, a Balkan country of 1.6 million people, already has a deal to receive 300 prison inmates from Denmark beginning in 2027 in return for 210 million euros over the next decade, and has expressed interest in receiving deportees from Britain. Kosovo-U.S. relations are particularly strong, given the U.S. lead in supporting independence from Serbia in 2008. "We hold their support in very high regard," the statement said. REUTERS Join ST's Telegram channel and get the latest breaking news delivered to you.
Straits Times
32 minutes ago
- Straits Times
Syria requires women to wear burkinis on public beaches
DAMASCUS - Syria's Islamist-led government has decreed that women should wear burkinis or other swimwear that covers the body at public beaches and swimming pools, while permitting Western-style beachwear at private clubs and luxury hotels. The tourism ministry decision issued this week marks the first time the Damascus authorities have issued guidelines related to what women can wear since Bashar al-Assad was toppled in December. During the Assad family's iron-fisted rule of Syria, which was shaped by a secular Arab nationalist ideology, the state imposed no such restrictions, though people often dressed modestly at public beaches, reflecting conservative norms. The new requirements were set out in a wider decree dated June 9 and which included public safety guidelines for beaches and swimming pools ahead of the summer, such as not spending too long in the sun and avoiding jellyfish. It said that beachgoers and visitors to public pools should wear "appropriate swimwear that respects public decency and the feelings of different segments of society", requiring "more modest swimsuits" and specifying "the burkini or swimming clothes that cover the body more". Women should wear a cover or a loose robe over their swimwear when moving between the beach and other areas, it said. Men should wear a shirt when not swimming, and are not allowed to appear bare-chested "in the public areas outside the swimming areas - hotel lobbies or ... restaurants", it said. The decree added that "in public areas outside the beaches and swimming pools", it was preferable to wear loose clothing that covers the shoulders and knees and to avoid transparent or very tight clothing. It offered an exception for hotels classed as four stars or above, and for private beaches, pools and clubs, saying "normal Western swimwear" was generally permitted, "with adherence to public morals and within the limits of public taste". Since Sunni Islamist-led rebels overthrew Assad, fliers have appeared urging women to cover up, but the government has issued no directives ordering them to observe conservative dress codes. A temporary constitution passed earlier this year strengthened the language on the role of sharia (Islamic law) in Syria. Interim President Ahmed al-Sharaa, who led an al Qaeda group before cutting ties with the jihadist network, has sidestepped interviewers' questions on whether he thought Syria should apply sharia, saying this was for experts to decide. REUTERS Join ST's Telegram channel and get the latest breaking news delivered to you.
