• Police extend search for clues on Madeleine McCann in Portuguese swamp
  • Unknowns The enigma of Maddie

Portuguese police have received orders to conclude on Thursday afternoon the special operation in the Arade reservoir in search of clues about the whereabouts of Madeleine McCann, 16 years after her disappearance in the town of Praia da Luz, 50 kilometers from this place.

After three days, and under the direction of the German Prosecutor's Office, investigators have filled several bags with objects collected on the shore and bottom of the swamp. The search was concentrated mainly on a peninsula where the main suspect, Christian Brueckner, came to take photographs in a place he considered his "little paradise".

Police have searched mainly for possible remains of the pink pajamas worn by Maddie, about to turn four at the time of the disappearance. Several witnesses may have confirmed Brueckner's presence in the vicinity of the Arade reservoir a few days after the incident that went around the world in May 2007.

The place had already been combed on a first occasion in 2008, in an operation sponsored by Portuguese lawyer Marcos Aragao Correia. It is in any case the first official investigation in Arade and the first cooperation in the case of the Portuguese, German and British police since 2014, which has motivated great media attention, in the presence of divers, radar equipment and police dogs.

"We are looking for a good reason," said German prosecutor Hans Christian Wolter, convinced of the guilt of Christian Brueckner, who is serving a seven-year sentence for the rape of an American tourist. "We have indications to believe that we can find evidence in this place," he said, although he urged caution to the media and referred to a statement at the end of the operation.

The device was initially going to have lasted 48 hours, although it was prolonged for another day. However, the Portuguese Judicial Police received instructions to close the investigation on Thursday afternoon.

Scotland Yard has sent several detectives involved in the investigation. His role has been above all to keep in touch with Madeleine's parents, Kate and Gerry, who recently celebrated the 16th anniversary of their daughter's disappearance at an emotional meeting in Rothley, near Leicester.

  • Madeleine McCann

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