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Portuguese police have delivered a blunt verdict on the renewed search for Madeleine McCann (Image: PA Wire/Getty)
Portuguese police have delivered a blunt verdict on the renewed search for Madeleine McCann. An anonymous Portuguese police source said at the start of the latest operation that they have "low expectations" about the searches but have been given their "orders" and are "not going to stand in the way".
They told The Sun: "The information that’s being put out in the public arena is that they’ll last five days with the preparation work and clean-up afterwards and we’ve been told to expect three days of full work on the ground. But on the Portuguese side at least there’s wishful thinking this could all be done in one day. We would love to be proved wrong and see a significant discovery because it’s what we’ve all been working towards for so many years."
About 30 German police, including forensic experts, are expected to take part in the search alongside Portuguese officers. The operation is expected to last until Friday. Scotland Yard said they are aware of the operation but British officers won't be present.
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About 30 German police are involved in the search along with Portuguese officers (Image: Getty)
The unnamed source cautioned that the area which is "going to be turned upside down" this week has already been searched by Portuguese police.
The shock revelation comes as investigators continue to scour scrubland and abandoned buildings in the second day of the latest searches for missing Madeleine.
Teams of German and Portuguese police officers, as well as firefighters, face the daunting task of hunting for evidence 18 years on from the disappearance of the British three-year-old in 2007.
This week's operation is focused on a sparsely developed area of land around 3.5 miles from Praia da Luz, where Madeleine was last seen while on holiday with her parents and siblings.
Ground-penetrating radar was seen being used as work continued on Wednesday (June 4), amid intense international media scrutiny.
Madeleine vanished after she was left sleeping in a room with her toddler twin brother and sister while her parents went for dinner with friends in a nearby restaurant.
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Officers have been clearing vegetations around abandoned buildings (Image: Getty)
Staff at the Find Madeleine Campaign said Kate and Gerry McCann are not commenting during the "active police investigation".
Officers on Wednesday were seen clearing vegetation around abandoned buildings, dressed in protective gear including hard hats and face masks. A digger was used to move rubble.
The fields and scrubland where they are working lies between a main road and the sea, with a few buildings including a vineyard.
It has been variously reported that teams will look where trenches were dug near the resort at the time of Madeleine's disappearance, at wells, ruins and water tanks. There are plans to examine 21 pieces of land.
The search is being carried out at the request of the German federal police, as they look for evidence which could implicate prime suspect Christian Brueckner, who is in prison for raping a 72-year-old woman in Praia da Luz in 2005.
Christian Brueckner (right) is the main suspect in the missing person case (Image: Getty)
He is due to be released from jail in September if no further charges are brought.
In October last year, Brueckner was cleared by a German court of unrelated sexual offences, alleged to have taken place in Portugal between 2000 and 2017.
German investigators and Portuguese officers last carried out searches in 2023, near the Barragem do Arade reservoir, about 30 miles from Praia da Luz.
Brueckner, who spent time in the area between 2000 and 2017, had photographs and videos of himself near the reservoir.
It was previously searched in 2008, when Portuguese lawyer Marcos Aragao Correia paid for specialist divers to search it, after he claimed to have been tipped off by criminal contacts that Madeleine's body was there.
British police were later given permission to examine scrubland near where Madeleine vanished in 2014.
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