The new investigative effort focuses on the municipality of Lagos, adjacent to Praia da Luz, the resort town where the three-year-old girl went missing on May 3, 2007, sparking a high-profile, Europe-wide inquiry.

Portuguese police disclosed on Monday that the search, scheduled from June 2-6, is being conducted on the basis of warrants issued by German prosecutors. The German investigative team has been at the forefront of the case since 2020 when they identified 48-year-old Christian Brückner, who is currently serving a prison sentence in Germany for an unrelated crime, as the primary suspect. Although Brückner has been named as a formal suspect by both German and Portuguese authorities and is suspected of murder, insufficient evidence has hampered the filing of charges. He maintains his innocence.

Brückner is currently incarcerated for the rape of a 72-year-old American tourist in Portugal in 2005. German officials indicated on Monday that ongoing criminal procedures in Portugal are being conducted with Portuguese police cooperation. Any evidence uncovered in the latest search will be passed to the German authorities.

The Metropolitan Police confirmed awareness of the searches executed by the German federal police in connection to the Madeleine McCann case. This investigation marks the first search in two years; the last took place in 2023 and was centered on a remote reservoir located about a 40-minute drive from the site of her disappearance.

In the current search, Portuguese media outlined that efforts are concentrated on the vicinity between the Ocean Club holiday resort, where the McCann family stayed, and a residence that Brückner once occupied.

On the night Madeleine vanished, her parents were dining at a nearby restaurant while she and her younger twin siblings were asleep in their ground-floor apartment. Periodic checks were made on the children by their parents until her mother, Kate McCann, found Madeleine missing at around 22:00.

Even as the German authorities continue to view Brückner as their main suspect, they have indicated earlier this year that there appears to be "no prospect" of bringing charges against him concerning Madeleine's disappearance. Evidence linking Brückner to the case includes mobile phone data and a 2022 German documentary revelation that he occasionally worked at the Ocean Club as a handyman.

In May, Madeleine's parents observed the 18th anniversary of her disappearance, reaffirming their relentless resolve to uncover the truth. Meanwhile, the Metropolitan Police persist with their own investigation, dubbed Operation Grange, which has been active since 2011.