Police say they have "seized a number of items" which they are set to analyse following their search for Madeleine McCann last week. Today, June 1, German police have said they cannot confirm whether the items taken from their dig in Portugal are connected to the British girl's 2007 disappearance, although they have appealed for more time to access them.
For three days last month, investigators searched the surrounding area of of the Arade dam and reservoir, which lies around 30 miles from Praia da Luz, where Madeleine was last seen shortly before her fourth birthday in 2007. German police said in June 2020 that they believed Madeleine to be dead, and that their suspect Christian Brückner was likely responsible.
The 45-year-old once dubbed the reservoir his "little paradise". Now, detectives are desperately seeking evidence to link Christian to Madeleine's disappearance, which led them to carry out the first search in nine years last week, The Mirror reports.
Read more: Madeleine McCann reservoir search in pictures after police find suspect's videos and photos
Today, German authorities said their investigation into the suspect would "continue for some time". He is currently in prison for raping a 72-year-old woman in the same area of the Algarve region from where Madeleine went missing but has not been charged with any crime related to the disappearance.
After the dig, cops left behind two-foot-deep boreholes and it is believed the soil they recovered from them is being forensically analysed in Germany. A spokesperson for the Braunschweig public prosecutor, who is coordinating the investigation, said today: “The search operation ended as planned on Thursday after three days.
“A previously exactly specified area along the reservoir has been fully searched for possible pieces of evidence searched. A number of items were seized as part of the investigation.
"These will be evaluated in the coming days and weeks. Whether individual items actually have a connection to the Madeleine McCann case cannot yet be said.
"Thank you to all the police officers involved in the search. The cooperation between the Portuguese police, police officers from Great Britain and the Federal Criminal Police Office went excellently and very constructively. The investigations conducted here in Braunschweig against the 46-year-old suspect are expected to continue for a long time."
Officers scoured the area after "certain tips" were given to German prosecutors about Brückner. A criminal informer tipped off German prosecutors that items taken in the 2007 raid at Brückner's home were then thrown into the reservoir.
Two key witnesses Manfred Seyferth and Helge Busching reportedly told German investigators they broke into Brückner's house while he was in jail. Seyferth said the pair had found a gun and a video camera at the isolated house in Floral, where Brückner lived, a few miles from the reservoir.
Brückner allegedly said the men are seeking to set him up because a drug deal went wrong.
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