Police remove bags from remote Portugal reservoir in search for Madeleine McCann

Police have removed a number of bags from a remote Portuguese reservoir as investigators continue their search for any sign of the missing British girl.

As per the BBC, investigators began searching the Arade dam site, situated 50 kilometres from where the toddler went missing in Praia da Luz 16 years ago.

TC/Alamy Stock Photo

German police are heading up the operation.

Investigators are searching for evidence to link McCann's disappearance to Christian Brueckner.

The 45-year-old German national was made a formal suspect - or an 'arguido' - by prosecutors in 2022.

The Barragem do Arade reservoir was locked down overnight.

Police divers entered the water on Tuesday to continue their search, nine years after German police discovered photos of Brueckner at the site.

According to Sky News, the reservoir was described by Brueckner as his own 'little paradise' in Portugal.

German prosecutor Christian Wolter said: "We are investigating in Portugal on the basis of certain tips [tip-offs].

dpa picture alliance / Alamy.

"I can't disclose the background at the moment, like why we are searching there and what we hope to find there."

He added: "That shall remain our secret for the moment."

The search is set to last for at least two days, although may continue longer if anything of any importance is discovered.

Scotland Yard detectives are said to have travelled to the area, but only with a 'watching brief'.

The reservoir was searched twice in February and March 2008 by divers hired by Portuguese lawyer Marcos Aragao Correia.

Correia organised the privately-funded operation after claiming he received reports McCann's body had been thrown into the reservoir within 48 hours of her disappearance.

However, her parents Kate and Gerry McCann had previously dismissed the lawyer's claims, saying there was no evidence to suggest any link between their daughter and the reservoir.

This time round, expert divers will explore the reservoir while digs also take place in the woodland next to the water.

Raj Valley / Alamy Stock Photo

The new search will mark the first major operation of its kind since June 2014, when British police were given permission to do digs involving sniffer dogs trained in detecting bodies and ground-penetrating radar in Praia da Luz.

The McCanns were on holiday in Portugal in 2007 when Madeleine vanished from their Algarve apartment.

The three-year-old and her siblings were left without supervision while their parents went out to dinner when she vanished.

Despite years passing since her disappearance, her parents have never stopped hoping for an answer.

Madeleine would be aged 20 now, if found alive.

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