Maddie McCann bombshell: Cops launch search of reservoir

Police were seen carrying away bags after digging, with the help of sniffer dogs, in a specific search area; after it was revealed what led investigators to the Portuguese reservoir.

Madeleine McCann disappeared in Praia da Luz, Portugal on May 3, 2007. Picture: AFP

Police were seen carrying bags away from a Portuguese reservoir where they’re searching for missing toddler Maddie McCann.

The new searches on Tuesday come after investigators reportedly found videos and photos of the area at the home of prime suspect, ‘Christian B’.

Video footage showed police digging with shovels in an area of the search site, with BBC adding that several bags were taken away from the area. It was not clear what the bags contained.

Portuguese authorities searched the land and water of the reservoir. Picture: AFP

Police were seen digging with shovels before carrying away bags, thought it was unclear what they contained. Picture: AFP

The Times in the UK, meanwhile, reported that ‘Christian B’, a convicted sex offender currently serving time in a German jail, visited the reservoir about 50 km from Praia da Luz, where the three-year-old was last seen in 2007.

Police officers were seen searching the bank along the dam with the help of a sniffer dogs as two officers searched the water on board a fire department boat.

German prosecutors, meanwhile, confirmed the search was taking place but said they could not give further details “for tactical investigative reasons”.

Portuguese police had announced on Monday evening that new searches would be carried out “in the next few days, at the request of the German authorities” and “in the presence of the English authorities”.

The steps were being taken with a view to “a total clarification of the situation”, the police said in a statement.

The area being searched was cordoned off on Tuesday and police had set up blue and white tents by the mass of water, set among wooded hills.

Police were monitoring access to the trails surrounding the Arade dam, built in the 1950s to irrigate agricultural land in the region.

“Sixteen years later, I very much doubt that they will find anything,” Andre Calado, 25, who works in a hotel in a small village near the dam, told AFP.

Police sniffer dogs were brought in to help with the search of reservior banks. Picture: AFP

CHILLING CLUES LEAD COPS TO RESERVOIR

Police have launched a new search for missing British girl Madeleine McCann in the first major operation of its kind related to the case in nine years.

German police investigating prime suspect Christian B are starting to search the site of a remote reservoir in Algarve, Portugal, that the convicted rapist is believed to have used, according to The Sun.

The reservoir is a 45-minute drive from the Ocean Club holiday resort of Praia da Luz where Madeleine vanished from in 2007 aged just four while holidaying with her parents.

It is also the sighting of a child being handed to a man days after Madeleine disappeared.

Madeleine McCann disappeared in Praia da Luz, Portugal on May 3, 2007. Picture: AFP/ Metropolitan Police

Police have erected tents and officers have begun scouring the shoreline at Barragem do Arade dam near Silves.

Portuguese police were expected to close off roads leading to the man-made dam, ahead of the official start to the search on Tuesday.

Scotland Yard detectives are understood to have travelled to the area but only with a “watching brief.”

Police vehicles and tents at the site of the remote reservoir. Picture: Reuters

An emergency services vehicle carries wheelbarrows to the search site. Picture: Reuters

Officers at the reservoir near Silves, Portugal, where a new search for Madeleine McCann is set to take place. Picture: Reuters

The search could last for at least two days and beyond that if anything of relevance is found.

It will be the first major operation in Portugal of its kind since June 2014.

Mike Neville, a former police chief investigator who worked on the McCann case for years, said the search “smacks of desperation”.

Mr Neville said we have yet to see any concrete evidence that the key suspect Christian B was involved in the case.

“This (reservoir) is vast and, how they are going to search that in a couple of days – it has been searched before – it is just really tragic in my view,” Mr neville told Sunrise.

“We need some closure to this case, but I just don’t see where the specific intelligence has come from and why they are searching it now.”

CLUES LINKING DAM TO KEY SUSPECT

British police were given permission to do digs that involved sniffer dogs trained in detecting bodies and ground-penetrating radar in Praia da Luz.

The new search is expected to include divers exploring the depths of the reservoir.

Police are also expected to dig up the woods by the water.

Portuguese broadcaster SIC reported German police sought permission to search the dam in an official judicial request to Portugal after concluding it was an “area of interest.”

It said: “Investigators know suspect Christian B used to come to this dam regularly.

“He would call it his little paradise and would often spend the night here. He was seen here often.

“The German authorities considered this reservoir to be an area of interest and ended up sending an International letter of request or letter rogatory.”

Suspect Christian B when he was arrested for drug trafficking in Italy. Picture: AFP/ Italian Carabinieri

A Volkswagen camper van which police have mentioned in connection with the disappearance of McCann. Picture: EPA/Metropolitan Police

The Portuguese Policia Judiciaria is co-ordinating the work that is being done.

It was not immediately clear when the German search request was made but it is thought to have been sent to Portugal several weeks ago.

The suspect also spent time living in and around the hamlet of Foral around 19km from the reservoir.

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

Marcos Aragao Correia organised the privately-funded operation.

He claimed he had been tipped off by underworld contacts that McCann had been murdered and her body thrown into the reservoir within 48 hours of her disappearance.

Two bags containing small bones were found during the second search after divers had earlier recovered several lengths of cord, some plastic tape and a single white cotton sock.

Portuguese police were alerted following the discovery but subsequently ruled out the possibility the bones were human because of their size.

Kate and Gerry McCann during an interview with the BBC. Picture: AFP

The girl’s parents Gerry and Kate McCann had previously dismissed Mr Correia as a self-publicist and said there was no evidence suggesting any link between their daughter and the reservoir.

It is not thought to have been searched since March 2008 as part of the ongoing investigation into her disappearance.

The peninsula jutting into the reservoir was sealed off just after midday on Monday.

Several local council trucks were spotted on the piece of land as tents and other structures were erected.

Behind them in another area nearby Portuguese Civil Protection workers were seen setting up a large blue tent alongside police who had mounted their own blue tent.

An onlooker said: “There are around two dozen Policia Judiciaria officers who seem to be supervising things at this stage.”

There was no obvious sign of any German police today although they are due in the area later.

Portuguese officials have not yet made any official comment.

It was not immediately clear what had prompted this week’s operation.

With AFP