Requested by the German authorities, the Portuguese police plan to conduct new searches in the coming days near the place where the British girl Madeleine McCann disappeared in 2007 in southern Portugal, confirmed Monday evening the judicial police.
The Portuguese police continue "the steps to shed light" on the "disappearance of a British girl in 2007, in the Algarve" (south), says a statement from the PJ.
Area raked in 2008
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As part of international cooperation, new searches will be conducted in the coming days, at the request of the German authorities," the Portuguese investigators said, adding that they will be "coordinated by the judicial police and will be carried out in the presence of the English authorities".
Portuguese investigators confirm information reported Monday morning by local media. According to television images, a perimeter was demarcated Monday around a dam located about fifty kilometers from the place where "Maddie" disappeared in 2007, before the beginning of the excavation Tuesday. According to several local media, divers had already combed this area in 2008, but had found only animal remains.
The Portuguese Public Prosecutor's Office announced last year that it had charged a suspect in Germany at its request as part of the investigation carried out in cooperation with the British and German authorities.
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According to the German justice, it is Christian Brueckner, a multi-recidivist pedophile who lived for several years in the south of Portugal. This man, who is serving a prison sentence for the rape of a 72-year-old American woman in 2005 in Portugal, had already been identified by German investigators in 2020 as the main suspect in the murder of the British girl. And, according to the Portuguese weekly Expresso, he used to go near the Arade dam, located in the municipality of Silves.
Nearly four years old, Madeleine McCann disappeared from her room in the resort of Praia da Luz, a small resort in the Algarve region, on May 3, 2007, while her parents were having dinner with friends at a nearby restaurant.
Portuguese police closed the investigation in 2008 after 14 months of controversial investigations, including the indictment of the girl's parents, who were later cleared. After spending two years studying the case, the UK formally opened its own investigation in July 2013. The Portuguese authorities reopened the case shortly thereafter.