Police investigating the disappearance of Madeleine McCann were on Tuesday scouring a delapidated farmhouse and draining a well within secluded shrubland as fresh searches in the case began in the Algarve.
Around a dozen officers searched another abandoned building next to a vineyard as part of the probe
Members of the team wore hard hats and face masks as they cleared branches from the area.
The search began in scrubland and around the first abandoned building more than 18 years after the three-year-old vanished while on holiday in Portugal with her family in the Praia Da Luz resort.
Police will reportedly use ground-penetrating radar in a search that will run until the end of the week and is set to take in multiple sites.
Officers have been seen carrying out what appear to be boxes of soil and debris from a site among the shrub on the hillside overlooking Atalaia, The Sun reported.
It had not been confimed whether this is a ramshackle cottage where prime suspect Christian Bruecker used to live, near to the resort where Madeleine disappeared.
German police are leading the searches with support from Portuguese offices under a under a European Investigation Order. Police sources said the week-long search will focus on Praia da Luz, where the three-year-old vanished on May 3, 2007, and a house near the holiday resort where Brueckner had stayed.
They are the first in Portugal for more than two years following a near-week-long operation involving Portuguese, German and police officers at a remote dam a 40-minute-drive from Praia da Luz in 2023.
A source involved in the search operation said the targeted area was "vast" with police using ground-penetrating radar across several hectares.
Occupants of one of the German vehicles invloved in the search on Tuesday wore bucket hats, clothing with camouflage patterns and covered their faces with bandanas.
A van belonging to Portugal's Maritime Police also arrived. That force has jurisdiction over coastal areas and took part in previous searches of beaches, wells and reservoirs using specialist divers. The road the police cordoned off is located close to a golf course and less than 1 km (0.6 miles) from the beach. T
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The search area was close to a property that Brueckner lived in, a neighbour told Reuters in 2020, though when was unclear.
Portuguese police on Monday erected police tents and sealed off dirt roads as prepartion for the searches began.
Photos showed white and blue forensic tents pitched in a remote scrubland area, close to a crumbling cottage where the convicted paedophile once lived.
Officers could be seen taping off dusty tracks ahead of the searches it is hoped could be a breakthrough moment in the 17-year-old case.
They said the search area would extend from the house eastwards towards an inland area known as Atalaia in the direction of Lagos.
“Wells, ruins and water storage tanks will be searched. The landowners haven’t had to be asked for permission and they can’t stop the searches from continuing if they turn up because police will be acting with a judicial warrant.”
Another said: “Around 30 German police officers have already arrived in Portugal and will be starting the search tomorrow. Portuguese police will also be on the ground.
“We are talking about a rural area with a lot of waste ground. Some of the areas that are going to be looked at have already been searched before.”
The German police team is expected to include forensic experts, who were also present for the May 2023 Arade Dam searches.
Searches in May 2023 at Arade Dam, described at the time as Brueckner’s “little paradise”, came to nothing.
They were the first major searches in Portugal for Madeleine McCann in nine years following an earlier June 2014 operation when British police were given permission to do digs in Praia da Luz that involved sniffer dogs trained in detecting bodies and ground-penetrating radar.
Those Scotland Yard digs were linked to the leading UK police theory at the time Madeleine died during a break-in and burglars dumped her body nearby.
They also failed to produce any evidence pointing to the missing youngster’s whereabouts.
A spokesperson for the Metropolitan Police confirmed the latest searches but said they were not directly involved.
They said: "We are aware of the searches being carried by the BKA (German federal police) in Portugal as part of their investigation into the disappearance of Madeleine McCann.
"The Metropolitan Police Service is not present at the search, we will support our international colleagues where necessary.”
It is not clear if detectives carrying out the new searches are acting on a new tip-off about where Madeleine’s body could be.
Portugal’s Policia Judiciaria police force confirmed: “The Polícia Judiciária is complying with a European Investigation Decision issued by the German authorities… with a view to carrying out a wide range of measures, specifically search warrants.”
The country’s Attorney General’s office have yet to make any official comment and are not expected to do so until after the search work begins.
In a smaller operation in July 2020 Portuguese police and firefighters searched three wells for Madeleine’s body but failed to find any trace of her. A well-placed Portuguese source confirmed this week’s operation was scheduled get underway on Tuesday and preparation work would take place beforehand.
He said: “They will be land searches only. The main objective is to look for any signs of Madeleine’s body.”
Madeleine vanished while on holiday with her parents in Praia da Luz, after they left her and her younger twin siblings asleep in their apartment while they went out to dinner with friends.
Her family last month marked the 18th anniversary of her disappearance by remembering her as a “very beautiful and unique person” ahead of what would be her 22nd birthday.
Portuguese police are understood to have agreed to cooperate with the latest search after it was approved by the country’s judicial authorities following a formal request from German cops and prosecutors.
The search is expected to last around three days unless anything relevant emerges.
Brueckner remains in prison in Germany where he is serving a seven year term for rape. The 48-year-old convicted paedophile faces having his hopes of being released from jail in September scuppered after reportedly being accused of new offences against prison guards behind bars.
Last month it was reported a hard drive found at a disused factory bought by Brueckner contains evidence suggesting that she is dead.
Brueckner has always denied any involvment in Madeleine’s disappearance.
In April, Ministers approved more than £100,000 in additional funding for Scotland Yard detectives investigating the disappearance of Madeleine.
Home Office sources said a request to provide up to £108,000 was approved for the probe, known as Operation Grange, for 2025-26.