A renewed search into missing Madeleine McCann, 18 years after her disappearance, has been called off – the search came to an end a day earlier than expected
The renewed search for missing toddler Madeleine McCann has been officially ended after just three days.
German and Portuguese police descended on several properties in an area of southern Portugal close to Praia da Luz – where Madeleine went missing in 2007. Cops were pictured packing up their equipment – which included a digger and ground-penetrating radars – are they are believed to have not found any traces of the missing girl. Investigators were punctured at several homes linked to prime suspect and convicted paedophile Christian Brueckner – who used to live on the area during the time the toddler vanished while on holiday.
A group of German and Portuguese officers stood around for a debrief at the search officially ended – which ended in a round of applause and the teams shaking hands. Despite this, nothing related to the missing girl appeared to be found during the operation.
Police initially had a warrant until Friday, June 6, to investigate areas of interest in southern Portugal. Earlier today, investigators indicated that they were expected to end their search on Thursday if nothing was found.
The operation kicked off on Tuesday, June 3, with teams scouring through more than 20 plots of land east of Praia da Luz. This included spots between the Ocean Club holiday resort where Madeleine vanished and the cottage where German authorities’ prime suspect Christian Breuckner lived.
Search teams discovered animal bones and pieces of adult clothing at these sites, according to Portuguese TV reports.
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