Madeleine McCann, a British girl, went missing in Portugal while on holiday with her family in 2007, becoming a globally shocking case. This week, Portuguese police, at the request of German prosecutors, launched a large-scale search once again. German authorities believe that Christian Brückner, a convicted sex offender currently imprisoned, may have abducted and killed Madeleine but need more evidence to convict him.

The search focuses on a 'vast' area in the Algarve region of southern Portugal. The Portuguese Judicial Police stated on June 2nd that they were executing a search warrant at the request of the prosecutor's office in Braunschweig, Germany. The Braunschweig prosecutors formally named Brückner a suspect in the case in 2022. Sources involved in the search indicated that the target area was quite extensive, utilizing ground-penetrating radar to investigate several hectares of land.

This search could be the most extensive since the initial investigation ended in 2008. Authorities previously executed focused searches in 2014, 2020, and 2023, but no substantial new evidence was discovered. Images captured by Reuters show Portuguese police setting up barricades along dirt paths in Atalaia, managing vehicles with German license plates.