Maddie McCann reservoir search sparked by ‘very credible’ informant’s tip

German and Portuguese authorities investigating suspect Christian Brueckner continue to examine the area around Arade Dam, which is about 45 minutes away from the Portuguese town Praia da Luz, from which three-year-old Maddie went missing in 2007.

Overnight, the Portuguese publication Expresso reported the search originated from “a tip from a BKA informant, who that police force considers very credible”.

“This informant told investigators details that the German police took very seriously.”

The BKA is Germany’s federal investigation agency, the equivalent of America’s FBI.

Expresso said its information came from a source “close to the investigation”.

Heavy rain delayed the search early on Wednesday morning, local time, but operations continued shortly afterwards.

According to The Daily Mirror, which was on site, police were focusing on a valley slightly north of a secluded clearing. Officers used chainsaws to remove trees and undergrowth, and also brought in an excavator.

German prosecutor Christian Walters confirmed the search was prompted by “indicators” from a source that evidence might be found in the area, though he did not provide more detail.

“What we hope to find there should remain secret for the moment,” said Mr Walters.

“If we should find something, then we will certainly tell you about it. But the action itself will also take a little bit of time. It can’t be completed within two hours or so.”

Meanwhile, The Sun cited Portuguese police sources, saying officers had been specifically asked to watch for signs of cloth or fibres in their search.

The speculation is that police are searching for remains of the pyjamas Maddie was wearing the night she disappeared.

Any evidence found at the site could provide a crucial link to photographic proof which placed Breuckner close to the dam in 2007.

Work at the start of day two focused on cutting back vegetation near the shoreline using strimmers to clear an area for search teams.

Officers later appeared carrying rakes as strimming work continued near a Ford Ranger pick-up parked just above the pre-drought water line.

Two more officers – one with a Nikon camera and another with a clipboard – logged photographic evidence in bright sunshine near the azure water.

A police dog also joined the search and was directed to a spot close to the shoreline.

Frogmen face the grim task of feeling their way through near-pitch black water in the search for evidence or human remains if they are deployed.

A drought has lowered the water levels at the reservoir, with the worst dry spell in years seen as key to the cops securing a breakthrough.

Breuckner, 45, is known to have regularly parked his yellow and white VW camper van in a car park close to the water’s edge.

A Portuguese source told The Sun: “The search is being taken very seriously and is being controlled totally by the Germans.

“They are so sensitive about this information they did not even disclose the exact location of the search area until shortly before work started.

“They asked Portuguese officers assisting them to look for any evidence — but specifically rags.”

Jim Gamble was the UK’s top child protection officer and oversaw a review of the Madeleine case that led to the creation of the Metropolitan Police’s current probe, Operation Grange.

He told The Sun: “I think we are looking at the best chance we’ve had in 16 years to find out what happened to Madeleine.

“They must have something definitive.”

But lawyer Marcos Aragao Correia, who organised the original dive search of the reservoir, says he thinks it will be a “miracle” if they find Maddie.

Mr Correia, 47, claims he received a tip off from a contact in the “underworld” who told him that Maddie had been dumped in a “deserted lake with murky waters”.

He organised a team of British divers to wade into the desolate reservoir in a private search, but the operation quickly ran out of cash back in 2008.

Breuckner is currently in jail for the 2005 rape of a US pensioner in Praia da Luz.

– with The Sun