A police source told the Lusa news agency that the work began early this morning and should continue until Friday.

The searches are taking place in a vast area between the city of Lagos and Praia da Luz, where the main suspect lived at the time of the disappearance.

The source also said that everything collected will be in the hands of the German police, who are in charge of the investigation, for analysis.

In a statement released today, the PJ said that the searches are taking place following a European Investigation Order “issued by the German authorities and authorized by the coordinator of the Public Prosecutor's Office in the Faro District”.

The Braunschweig Public Prosecutor's Office is leading the ongoing proceedings and has requested the execution of search warrants in the municipality of Lagos, as part of “preliminary proceedings against a German citizen suspected of committing the murder of British citizen Madeleine Beth McCann,” the statement added.

Madeleine McCann, who was three years old at the time, disappeared on May 3, 2007, from the apartment where she was sleeping with her two-year-old twin brothers in Praia da Luz, while her parents were having dinner with friends a few metres away, in the seaside resort.

In 2020, German police named Christian Brückner as the main suspect in the child's kidnapping and murder, but no charges were filed.

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