Police reportedly found two guns in the search for Madeleine McCann in Portugal
Police reportedly found two guns in the search for Madeleine McCann last week.
The firearms have now been sent back to Germany for analysis, along with fragments of bones and clothing which had already been reported, according to The Olive Press. There is currently no further information on the type of guns found.. The bones are said to be from animals, but some smaller fragments will be analysed.
On Thursday, a team of German and Portuguese investigators wrapped up a three-day search along a 120-acre stretch of land in Lagos, Portugal, in their latest attempt to find new evidence against prime suspect Christian Brueckner. Initial reports suggested the operation – which took place 30 miles from where three-year-old Madeleine went missing in May 2007 – had failed to turn up any new leads.
The team was seen congratuating and embracing each other and officers involved in the latest searches held a debrief before leaving the site, and there was a round of applause before a crate of German beer was removed from one of the tents in the designated base area.
British officers have not been present at the latest searches, the Metropolitan Police said. Madeleine’s parents have not commented during the “active police investigation”, staff at the Find Madeleine Campaign said.
German authorities requested the search as part of their continued attempts to source evidence to implicate prime suspect Christian Brueckner, who is in prison for raping a 72-year-old woman in Praia da Luz in 2005. He is due to be released from jail in September if no further charges are brought.
In October last year, Brueckner was cleared by a German court of unrelated sexual offences, alleged to have taken place in Portugal between 2000 and 2017. In 2023, investigators carried out searches near the Barragem do Arade reservoir, about 30 miles from Praia da Luz. Brueckner spent time in the area between 2000 and 2017 and had photographs and videos of himself near the reservoir.
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