Police in Portugal Resume Search for Madeleine McCann, British Girl Missing Since 2007
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Loading... - Jason Chloros
- 24 May 2023
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Portuguese authorities, in collaboration with their German and British counterparts, resumed their search for Madeleine McCann, the British child who vanished 16 years ago in Portugal's southern Algarve region.
A group of approximately 20 to 30 officers, some wearing uniforms, were observed near the Arade dam, located around 50 kilometers (30 miles) away from Praia da Luz, where the three-year-old girl was last seen alive in 2007.
The Portuguese police had established a blue tent as their base of operations and had cordoned off the area to the media and the public. Witnesses reported that the search began shortly before 8 a.m. on Tuesday, a few kilometers away from the tent. Numerous police vehicles, including cars and vans, arrived at the scene.
On Monday, the Judicial Police of Portugal issued a statement stating that the search was being resumed at the request of the German authorities, with assistance from British officials.
According to a written statement by the German prosecutors in Braunschweig on Tuesday, "criminal procedural measures are currently taking place in Portugal as part of the investigation into the Madeleine McCann case." They further explained that "the measures are being implemented through mutual legal assistance between the Portuguese prosecution authorities and officers from the Federal Criminal Police Office."
"The release of more detailed information regarding the background is currently withheld due to investigative tactical reasons," added the statement.
In mid-2020, German officials announced that a 45-year-old German citizen, identified by the media as Christian Brueckner, who was present in the Algarve region in 2007, had become a suspect in the case. However, Brueckner has consistently denied any involvement.
Presently, Brueckner is serving a seven-year prison sentence in Germany for a rape committed in Portugal in 2005. Although he is under investigation on suspicion of murder in the McCann case, no charges have been filed against him. Brueckner spent a considerable amount of time in Portugal, including Praia da Luz, during the period when Madeleine disappeared.
The case garnered significant global attention for numerous years, leading to reported sightings of Madeleine in various locations as distant as Australia. Additionally, numerous books and television documentaries have been produced on the subject.
The rewards offered for information leading to the discovery of Madeleine, who would now be 20 years old, have reached several million dollars.
British, Portuguese, and German authorities are continuing their collaborative efforts to reconstruct the events of the night when the toddler disappeared from her bed in the southern Portuguese resort on May 3, 2007. At the time, she was sharing the room with her two-year-old twin siblings while her parents dined with friends at a nearby restaurant.
