Land near the former home of the main suspect in the disappearance of Madeleine McCann is to be searched by police this week.
Last night roads were closed and tents set up between the resort in Portugal where the three-year-old vanished 18 years ago, and a house nearby where Christian Brueckner once lived.
Prime suspect Brueckner, 48, is in prison in Germany serving seven years for rape and the request for yet another search was made by German police.
At least 30 agents from Germany's FBI, the BKA, acted on a tip-off and arrived at the idyllic Portuguese resort.
An investigating source told the Sun: 'Following Brueckner's trial last year someone contacted them with theories on where anyone who took Madeleine might've dumped her.
'They told cops about trenches that were dug in Praia at the time Madeleine disappeared, and the house where Brueckner had lived on the edge of the village.
'Of course, all of these places have been searched over and over again, but now they have a new weapon in their ground-scanning radar. It means they don't need to dig for the sake of it. But as soon as they spot anything of interest they are ready to excavate and check it.'
They are equipped with ground-penetrating radar technology that can scan up to 15ft below the surface of the ground.
A well-placed Portuguese source said: ‘The search will take place on 21 privately owned pieces of land which in some cases are not fenced off.
‘Wells, ruins and water storage tanks will be searched.’
The operation on property between Praia da Luz and a rented cottage on the outskirts of the resort town where Brueckner lived for several years before 2007 is expected to continue until Friday – unless new evidence about Madeleine’s disappearance is unearthed.
German forensic officers will be accompanying the latest investigation, which will look into wells, ruins and water storage tanks in the area.
Portugal’s Policia Judiciaria, which has led the hunt for Madeleine, confirmed that the request to search the area was made by German authorities.
A source added: ‘The search warrant was issued by the Braunschweig Public Prosecutor’s Office, which is conducting preliminary proceedings against a German citizen suspected of the murder of British citizen Madeleine Beth McCann, who disappeared from a holiday resort in Praia da Luz on May 3, 2007.
‘All the evidence seized by the PJ will… be handed over to the agents of the German Federal Criminal Police Service.’
It will be the first search in Portugal for more than two years, following a week-long operation involving Portuguese and German officers at a remote dam a 40-minute-drive from Praia da Luz. The searches in May 2023 at Arade Dam – a spot that Brueckner reportedly called his ‘little paradise’ – came to nothing.
That followed a June 2014 operation when British police were given permission to carry out digs in Praia da Luz. Those digs were linked to a UK police theory that Madeleine died during a break-in and burglars hid her body nearby.
Despite the use of sniffer dogs trained in detecting bodies and ground-penetrating radar, it also failed to produce any evidence pointing to the youngster’s whereabouts.
In a smaller operation in July 2020 Portuguese police and firefighters searched three wells for Madeleine’s body but failed to find any trace of her.
Brueckner is under investigation on suspicion of abduction and murder in the Madeleine case but has denied any involvement. While German investigators made the unusual move of naming him as a suspect in the case, he has not been charged.
Brueckner’s prison term is set to end with his release this September – much earlier than prosecutors had hoped for after he was acquitted of unrelated sexual offences last October.
He is no longer being held in solitary confinement as he nears the end of his sentence.
‘The clock is against the case here and investigators do not want to see Brueckner walk free,’ a source told The Sun.
A spokesman for Scotland Yard said that it was aware of the searches but it was not taking part in them.
