Madeleine McCann: Portugal reservoir search ends after three data.
By Daniel Sandford, home affairs correspondent, and Navtej Johal
BBC News
A fresh search linked to the disappearance of Madeleine McCann in Portugal has ended.
Portuguese authorities said material recovered during the three day operation around the Arade reservoir in the Algarve would now be analysed.
The German police-led operation was looking for evidence to link the British toddler’s disappearance to Christian Brueckner, a German national.
He was made a formal suspect by Portuguese prosecutors in 2022.
German prosecutors have named Brueckner as the main suspect in their Madeleine McCann murder investigation. British police do not use that phrase, saying that as far as they are concerned it is still a missing person investigation.
The search at the Arade reservoir near Silves was part of the German investigation. They asked Portuguese officials for assistance, and the Metropolitan Police said its officers were also in Portugal so they can inform Madeleine’s family of any developments.
A statement from Portugal’s national police agency said the “collected material” from the scene will be delivered to the German authorities for further inspection.
All the work carried out around the reservoir was on a peninsula jutting out into the Arade dam from its Western shore – 31 miles (50km) from where Madeleine went missing in Praia da Luz 16 years ago.