Detectives investigating Madeleine McCann’s disappearance have “seized a number of items” from a reservoir in Portugal, it has emerged.
The Barragem do Arade was searched last week by Portuguese and German police, about 50 kilometers from the resort of Praia da Luz where the three-year-old disappeared while on holiday with her parents in May 2007.
In an update on Thursday morning, the Braunschweig public prosecutor’s office said: “The search carried out last week in the Arade reservoir area in Portugal ended on Thursday after three days as planned.
“A previously carefully defined area along the reservoir was completely searched for possible evidence.
“A number of goods were seized as part of the action. These will be evaluated in the coming days and weeks.
“It is not yet possible to say whether some of the items are actually related to the Madeleine McCann case.”
‘little paradise’
The prime suspect in the ongoing investigation into the toddler’s disappearance, Christian Brueckner, is said to have gone “a few days” after the three-year-old went missing 16 years ago to a headland near the Arade Dam.
German detectives are said to have been told by a “highly credible” source who knew Brueckner, a 45-year-old convicted pedophile and rapist, that he had visited the reservoir, an area he called his “little paradise”, in his motor home. van.
He has denied any involvement in Madeleine’s disappearance.
