A good 16 years after the disappearance of the then three-year-old Madeleine McCann in the south of Portugal, the investigators want to start a new search operation. This had been applied for by the German Federal Criminal Police Office (BKA), the Portuguese criminal police said on Monday. It will take place "in the next few days" in the Algarve region. In addition to Portuguese and German officials, British police officers are also to take part in the new search operation.
For the time being, the Polícia Judiciaria did not disclose any further details. However, the state news agency Lusa, citing the police, reported that the search should begin as early as Tuesday at the Arade reservoir and last two to three days. The public prosecutor's office in Braunschweig, which is investigating in the "Maddie case" against a convicted German on suspicion of murder, did not want to comment on dpa request, but announced a short announcement for Tuesday. The Federal Criminal Police Office did not initially provide any information.
The Arade reservoir is located about 50 kilometers northeast of the Algarve seaside resort of Praia da Luz. On May 3, 2007, shortly before her fourth birthday, Maddie disappeared without a trace from a holiday resort. Investigators suspect that she was kidnapped and murdered. However, a body was never found. The last known major search operation in this case took place almost three years ago, in the summer of 2020.