German police have issued a new update as fresh searches for Madeleine McCann began in Portugal on Tuesday morning, 16 years after she disappeared.
Police divers have been seen going into the water at the Barragem do Arade reservoir, about 30 miles from Praia da Luz, where Madeleine went missing in 2007.
The Policia Judiciaria said it is co-ordinating searches in the Algarve at the request of German police, reports the Mirror. British officers are also in attendance. Tents can be seen erected on the banks of the reservoir.
And a statement today from the prosecutor's office in the German state of Braunschweig reads: "As part of the investigation into the case of Madeleine McCann there are currently measures related to the criminal process taking place in Portugal.
"The measures are being implemented... by the Portuguese law enforcement authorities with the support of officers of the [German] Federal Criminal Police Office.
"Further information on the background will not be released at this time."
The German state prosecutor said the latest search was requested by German officials as part of their investigation into Madeleine's disappearance.
It's understood Portuguese police are helping with the search because of legal restrictions for German police to operate abroad.
It's alleged that the prime suspect in Madeleine's disappearance, convicted sex offender Christian Brueckner, 45, spent time in the area between 2000 and 2017.
Investigators believe he killed Maddie, then aged three, after abducting her from a holiday apartment.
Brueckner, who has denied involvement in the youngster's disappearance, was identified as a suspect by Portuguese officials in June 2020.
He is facing charges in Germany over a number of separate sex offences allegedly committed in Portugal during that time.
Portuguese officers were seen walking along dry tracks near the reservoir and sealing off areas with police tape on Monday.
It is not the first time the reservoir has been searched. Back in 2008, Portuguese lawyer Marcos Aragao Correia paid for specialist divers to check the waterway after he claimed to have been tipped off by criminal contacts that Madeleine's body was in the reservoir.
The most recent search in Portugal in relation to her disappearance was in 2014, when British police were given permission to examine scrubland near where she vanished.
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