The searches will take place between Praia da Luz, the area where Madeleine disappeared, and a house where the main suspect, Christian Brueckner, lived. According to the Daily Mail, the German police have requested the searches.

“This will be a land-based search only. The main goal is to search for any signs of Madeleine’s body,” said a source close to the investigation. The search is expected to last around three days, unless new evidence emerges.

This will be the first search in Portugal since 2020, following a previous operation that lasted nearly a week and involved Portuguese and German police at a remote dam, 40 minutes by car from Praia da Luz.

Previous searches had taken place in May 2023 at the Arade dam, a “area of interest” where Brueckner allegedly referred to as his “little paradise”. However, those searches yielded no results.

It has been nine years since significant searches were conducted in Portugal for Madeleine, following a previous operation in June 2014, when British police were granted permission to conduct excavations in Praia da Luz with the help of cadaver dogs and radar.

A smaller operation took place in July 2020, when Portuguese police and firefighters searched three wells for Madeleine’s body, but found nothing.

The Suspect

The main suspect, Christian Brueckner, is currently serving a seven-year sentence in a German prison for rape. His hopes for early release are dwindling, after reports emerged that he is being investigated for new crimes. He is being investigated for suspicion of abduction and murder in the McCann case, but denies any involvement.

Although German investigators have named Brueckner as a suspect in the case, no charges have been filed against him.

Brueckner’s prison sentence is set to expire in September. The convicted sex offender is no longer being held in isolation, as his sentence nears its end.