Madeleine McCann cops cut down branches as they bring in sniffer dogs

Investigators hunting for signs of Madeleine McCann cut down tree branches and brought in sniffer dogs today as they searched a secluded woodland spot next to a remote Algarve reservoir said to be linked to chief suspect Christian Brueckner. The search for evidence connecting the toddler’s 2007 disappearance the German convict entered its second day today, as it was claimed the operation is taking place following a tip from a ‘very credible’ German police informer. Photos and footage of the search operation today showed a group of Portugal’s National Republican Guard (GNR) being led by sniffer dogs to a small grove close to the water’s edge. Officers were seen clearing branches shortly after. 

This comes amid reports that officials are seeking any fragments of clothing and old rags that could be related to her disappearance – particularly the pink pyjamas she was wearing the night she vanished. Meanwhile, respected Portuguese media outlet Expresso said the informant gave detectives ‘details’ they took ‘very seriously.’ The flagship weekly publication named Rainer Grimm as the man leading the probe for Germany’s central criminal investigation agency the BKA, saying he was among the officers at the site. 

‘Expresso knows that these searches have their origin in a tip from a BKA informant who that police force considers very credible,’ it reported on its website. ‘This informant told investigators details that the German police took very seriously.’ It added: ‘The searches were requested by the German police after receiving this information.’ The media outlet said it had obtained its information from a ‘source close to the investigation.’ Emergency services with brush cutters to clear the search area arrived at the temporary camp set up on the shores of the Arade reservoir early on Wednesday. Portuguese police, assisted by German and British counterparts, had focused their search on Tuesday on the reservoir’s shoreline. 

This morning police appeared to be focusing on a valley slightly north of a secluded clearing behind trees near to where three tents were put up on Monday. The dense vegetation meant they had to use tools including chainsaws to remove trees to access it properly. Meanwhile, a fire service vehicle and rigid-hull inflatable boat were again on the banks of the reservoir, and appeared ready to launch on to the water. 

Madeleine was aged three in May 2007 when she vanished from her bedroom in the apartment her family were staying at in the Praia da Luz resort on the Algarve coast. The reservoir is about 31 miles inland from the resort. The first major search for the toddler in nine years comes after German police discovered photos of Brueckner at his self-described ‘little paradise’ in the Portuguese region, it is understood. German prosecutors last year named convicted abuser and drug dealer Brueckner as the prime suspect in McCann’s disappearance.

He is currently behind bars in Germany for [sexually assaulting] a 72-year-old woman in the same area of the Algarve region from where McCann went missing. The case, unsolved for the past 16 years, remains a mystery as no body has ever been found. It sparked a media frenzy in Britain, with developments also followed by outlets around the world and celebrities joining appeals to help find Madeleine. On Wednesday, the German prosecutor leading the country’s investigation into Brueckner’s suspected link to Madeleine’s disappearance said they do not have a confession from the convict. Braunschweig prosecutor Christian Wolters said that while investigators have ‘indications’ that evidence could be found at the reservoir, this has not come from Brueckner himself.

‘We have indications that we could find evidence there. I don’t want to say what that is exactly, and I also don’t want to say where these indications come from,’ Wolters told German public broadcaster NDR today. ‘The only thing that I would clarify is that it doesn’t come from the suspect – so we don’t have a confession or anything similar now, or an indication from the suspect of where it would make sense to search, ‘ Wolters said, adding that ‘it was other indications that prompted us to conduct this search.’ However, Wolters appeared to calm expectations of what might be found, saying, ‘We never said that the girl disappeared where we are now searching.’ Read the full story: https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-12118973/Madeleine-McCann-cops-begin-second-day-searching-rags-pink-pyjamas-Portugal.html?ito=msngallery

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