The Portuguese police have finished searching for clues in the case of the missing McCann child, but no results have been announced

LISBON, Portugal — Portuguese police have completed their latest search for clues in the disappearance of Madeleine McCann, the British child who disappeared in southern Portugal in 2007.

Authorities did not release details about the search results Thursday. According to a statement from the Portuguese judicial police, certain materials have been collected and will be handed over to the German authorities for examination.

Around the dam, about 50 kilometers (30 miles) from the resort of Praia da Luz, where the three-year-old girl was last seen 16 years ago, began on Tuesday at the request of German authorities.

The German man suspected in the case is currently in prison in Germany for another case.

Portuguese, German and British police took part in the three-day operation, during which investigators probed the shores of the Arad reservoir and deployed sniffer dogs and a drone.

German prosecutor Christian Wolters told The Associated Press on Thursday that authorities would assess the success of the search once the investigation is complete, adding that they could issue a statement next week.

According to Portuguese media, this was the fourth police search for McCann, following an initial search in the southern Algarve in 2007 and further efforts in 2013 and 2014. In 2020, another research was held in Germany.

The reservoir is half full due to the drought in Portugal and neighboring Spain. In normal rain, the search would have been below the water line.

In mid-2020, German officials said the suspect in the case was a 45-year-old German national identified by the media as Christian Brueckner, who had been in the Algarve state in 2007. Brueckner denied any involvement.

Brueckner is currently serving a seven-year prison sentence in Germany for raping a 72-year-old woman in Portugal in 2005.

He is under investigation on suspicion of murder in the McCann case, but has not been charged. He spent many years in Portugal, including Praia da Luz, around Madeleine’s disappearance.

Madeleine McCann’s case has attracted worldwide interest for several years, with reports of sightings as far away as Australia, and a number of books and television documentaries about the case.

British, Portuguese and German police are still piecing together what happened the night the toddler disappeared from her bed at the resort in southern Portugal on May 3, 2007. In the same room were his twin brothers, who were two years old. he was old at the time while his parents were having dinner with friends at a nearby restaurant.

Madeleine’s parents did not comment due to the active investigation, according to the email response of the website created to locate the child, findmadeleine.com.

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Ciarán Giles in Madrid and Geir Moulson in Berlin contributed to this report.