London (AP) – Police investigating the disappearance of British Toddler Madeleine McCann Will carry out new research near the Portuguese holiday station that she was seen for the last time 18 years ago, the authorities announced on Monday.
THE 3 years old Disappeared from her bed during her vacation with her family in the Praia Da Luz Resort, in southern Portugal, on May 3, 2007. She has not been seen since.
Detectives acting on a request from a German prosecutor will make “a wide range” of searches this week in the Lagos region, in southern Portugal, a Portuguese police press release.
The main suspect in the case is a German national identified by the media as Christian BruecknerWho is currently serving a sentence of seven years in prison in Germany for raped a 72 -year -old woman in Portugal in 2005.
It is the subject of an investigation for suspicion of murder in the McCann case but was not charged. He spent many years in Portugal, especially in Praia da Luz, at the time of the disappearance of the child. Brueckner denied any involvement in his disappearance.
Prosecutors of Braunschweig, Germany, who are responsible for the investigation, have not given details on the “judicial measures” which take place in Portugal, according to the APD news agency in Germany. They said the measures are being procedure by the Portuguese authorities with the support of officers from the Federal German Criminal Police Office.
British metropolitan police said that they were “aware of the searches made by BKA (German Federal Police) in Portugal as part of their investigation into the disappearance of Madeleine McCann”.
“The metropolitan police service is not present in research, we will support our international colleagues if necessary,” added the strength, without giving more details.
The McCann affair has been interested worldwide for several years, with reports on its stretching as far as Australia as well as books and television documentaries on its disappearance.
Almost two decades later, investigators from the United Kingdom, Portugal and Germany still reconstitute what happened on the At night she disappeared. She was in the same room as her brother and sister – 2 -year -old twins – while their parents, Kate and Gerry, dined with friends in a neighboring restaurant.
The last time the police resumed searches in the case, it was in 2023, when detectives from the three countries participated in an operation Search near a dam And a tank about 50 kilometers (30 miles) from the Praia da Luz Resort.
Madeleine’s family marked the 18th anniversary of her disappearance last month and expressed his determination to Continue to search.
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Barry Hatton in Lisbon and Geir Moulson in Berlin contributed.
