Today, police in Portugal will begin scouring a reservoir in a new effort to find Madeleine McCann.
The paedophile suspected of killing Maddie frequently visited the enormous body of water.
Officers closed off a mile-long section of Barragem do Arade, 25 miles from the location of the three-year-old’s disappearance in 2007, near Silves in the Algarve.
And overnight a no-fly zone covering the whole of the man-made dam was put in place, leaving the airspace above the water and land near the water’s edge where today’s search will focus open to police drones only.
The ring of steel meant journalists and curious onlookers were kept more than a mile back from two white tents put up yesterday by a secluded hilltop area on a peninsula jutting into the reservoir Portuguese police are planning to comb until nightfall following a scheduled 9am local time start.
Police divers were seen entering the water earlier this morning, and a police motor boat has also been sent into the water with two officers on it.
Jailed sex offender Christian Brueckner, 45, has called the man-made lake his ‘little paradise’.
Divers will explore water close to a dam, with digs also expected in woods close by.
Portuguese police made their first official comment on this week’s operation last night.
The Policia Judiciaria force said in a statement: ‘In view of the news made public, the Judiciary Police confirms that, regarding the investigation into the disappearance of an English child, which occurred in the Algarve in 2007, steps are still being taken to fully clarify the situation.
‘Within the scope of international cooperation, in the next few days in the Algarve region, new searches will be carried out, coordinated by the Judiciary Police, at the request of the German Authorities (BKA) and with the presence of the British Authorities.
‘Information will be provided in due course on the outcome of the proceedings.’
Sources close to the investigation said they had evidence the clearing in the trees was the spot Brueckner used to spend time at after parking up his camper van nearby.
A local who asked not to be named, but knows the area well, said: ‘It’s pretty well-hidden by the trees and you don’t realise it’s there until you’re almost upon it.
‘People wild camp there overnight from time to time which is why you’ll find the remains of fires inside small walls of stone.
‘It’s got old sun loungers in it and makeshift benches that visitors use to rest on.
‘It’s very out-of-the-way and very peaceful but at the same time it’s got a slightly eerie feel about it.’
A well-placed police source said: ‘Portuguese police are going to carry out a thorough and very careful search of the area today.
‘Policia Judiciaria officers are going to be divided into four teams who will focus on a land search. It will be very meticulous and exhaustive.
‘Forget the idea of big trucks and large machinery. A lot of the work that’s going to be done here today will be done by hand with backup technology.’
The insider said there was no plan to bring in sniffer dogs today and did not comment on local reports boats with sonar equipment would comb certain stretches of the water.
High-tech equipment used to detect human remains buried under the earth, as well as underwater if required, is expected to be used.
No heavy machinery was taken to the area yesterday and council officials were spotted carrying a ‘lorryload’ of wheelbarrows to the zone by the hidden leisure area clearing, suggesting police will rake and dig it by hand using the likes of pickaxes rather than excavate earth with diggers in an attempt to preserve any evidence they find.
Local Portuguese reports, partly confirmed by police sources, claimed the searches were requested and authorised after German police obtained videos and photos of Brueckner close to the planned dig site.
They are thought to have been found buried in the paedophile’s ‘secret lair’ in a dilapidated factory site in the German village of Neuwegersleben, 65 miles south-east of Hanover.
Police raided the site in February 2016 in search of the body of missing five-year-old Inga Gehricke, who vanished while on a family outing in Saxony-Anhalt in May 2015 and has been dubbed the ‘German Maddie.’
Reports at the time said German detectives had discovered more than 8,000 images and videos on USB sticks and hard drives filled with child abuse images.
They were said to have been buried under the body of Brueckner’s dead dog.
Portugal’s Policia Judiciaria force, whose officers are doing most of the dig work today, has confirmed the searches were requested by their German counterparts the BKA.
The request was made via an international letter of request sent to Portugal’s Attorney General’s office and passed on to prosecutors in Portimao.
Portuguese officials have not yet said when it was received but it is believed to have been about two months ago.
Although this week’s operation has been initiated by German police, Portuguese detectives are showing with the manpower and logistical support they are providing that they are fully on board.
Carlos Farinha, the PJ’s deputy director, travelled from Lisbon yesterday to the reservoir to view the preparation work ahead of the start of the searches and meet German counterparts.
He is believed to have attended a briefing meeting with German police, who arrived at the scene around 6.30pm local time in four vehicles including three VW people carriers and left two hours later.
Today Algarve PJ chief Fernando Jordao who is normally based in Faro and Helena Monteiro, tasked with an ongoing Portuguese police ‘cold case’ review from the northern city of Porto, are due to spend time at the search area in another show of the importance attached to this week’s operation by the Portuguese force’s upper hierarchy.
Operational coordination will be in the hands of a chief inspector who has not yet been named.
Scotland Yard representatives will be in the area for what has been described as a ‘watching brief.’
Respected Portuguese broadcaster SIC has said the searches, due to last for at least two days and longer if anything of relevance is found, will be 80 per cent land-based and 20 per cent water-based.
In a lunchtime broadcast yesterday it said: ‘Investigators know suspect Cristian Brueckner 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.’
No police divers have yet been spotted and there are conflicting reports about whether underwater searches will take place or if they will occur in shallows near the edge of the reservoir where water levels are currently much lower than normal because of the ongoing drought.
The force made its statement as German police arrived at the reservoir where today’s search will start.
They were travelling in three Volkswagen vans, two black and one dark-blue, and a Ford Ranger with a Portuguese police escort in front.
They showed up around 6.30pm local time. It was the first time all day any German officials had been seen at the reservoir, where Portuguese police and civil protection workers arrived around lunchtime to prepare the ground for the searches.
Brueckner is in prison for the rape and murder of a 72-year-old woman, but German police have charged him with multiple child sex offences between 2000 and 2007.
They claim to have ‘concrete evidence’ that Madeleine is dead, and say they found links to her in a van belonging to him.
The German worked in Portugal for years. Prosecutors say phone analysis puts him at the Ocean Club resort she vanished from on May 3, 2007.
Madeleine was taken from a hotel room, where her twin two-year-old siblings were sleeping.
Parents Kate and Gerry McCann used private detectives to search for her until Scotland Yard began its Operation Grange inquiry in 2011.
Portuguese police officially made Brueckner a suspect in April 2022.
Last night they confirmed the search – led by German officers with their support – was part of ‘steps still being taken to fully clarify the situation’, and added: ‘Information will be provided in due course.’ They confirmed Scotland Yard officers will observe at the site.
The hunt will last at least two days. The reservoir was searched twice in February and March 2008 by divers hired by Portuguese lawyer Marcos Aragao Correia, who claimed he had an underworld tip-off she was dumped there.
Small bones were found but police said they were not human. The McCanns called Mr Correia a self-publicist.
A lorry driver also told police he saw a woman handing over a child like Madeleine to a man there two days after she went missing.
The new search will be the first major operation in the case since June 2014 when UK police were given permission for digs in Praia da Luz using cadaver dogs and ground-penetrating radar.
The McCanns lit candles at a vigil for Madeleine in their village of Rothley, Leicestershire, on the 16th anniversary of her disappearance earlier this month.
On May 13 – her 20th birthday – they released a video with the message: ‘We love you and we’re waiting for you. We’re never going to give up.’ The family has not made a statement on the new dig. Brueckner’s lawyer did not comment.
But a source close to the killer told MailOnline: ‘They can search all they want. I will be amazed if they find anything.
The Arade Dam, the Barragem do Arade in Portuguese, is fed by the watercourse of the Arade River whose source lies to the southwest of the Serrra do Caldeirao mountain range and runs through the municipalities of Silves, Lagoa and Portimao before reaching the ocean.
Construction was concluded in 1955 and it began operating the following year.
