Police in Portugal have ended the latest search for clues regarding the disappearance of Madeleine McCann, the British child who went missing in 2007 in southern Portugal.

Authorities gave no details about the results of the search. A statement by Portugal’s Judiciary Police said some material had been collected and would be handed over to German authorities for examination.

The search around a dam some 50km from the Praia da Luz resort, where the 3-year-old girl was last seen 16 years ago, began Tuesday following a request by German authorities.

A police search team walk on the shore of the Arade dam near Silves, Portugal. Photo / Joao Matos, AP

A German man who is a suspect in the case is currently in jail in Germany for a different case.

Portuguese, German, and British police took part in the three-day operation during which detectives probed the banks of the Arade reservoir and also used sniffer dogs and a drone.

The search for missing Madeleine McCann is taking place at the Barragem do Arade reservoir near the town of Silves. Graphic / Richard Dale

Germany prosecutor Christian Wolters told the Associated Press authorities would gauge the success of the search after its conclusion, adding that a statement may be issued next week.

Portuguese media said this was the fourth police search for McCann, following the initial one in 2007 in the southern Algarve area and further efforts in 2013 and 2014. Another search was held in Germany in 2020.

The reservoir is less than half full because of a drought affecting Portugal and neighbouring Spain. The search would’ve been below the water line under normal rainfall.

A search dingy navigates the Arade dam in the search for Madeleine McCann. Photo / Joao Matos, AP

In mid-2020, German officials said that a 45-year-old German citizen, identified by media as Christian Brueckner, who was in the Algarve in 2007, was a suspect in the case. Brueckner has 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 hasn’t been charged. He spent many years in Portugal, including in Praia da Luz, around the time of Madeleine’s disappearance.

The case of Madeleine McCann stirred worldwide interest for several years, with reports of sightings of her stretching as far away as Australia, along with a slew of books and television documentaries about the case.

British, Portuguese, and German police are still piecing together what happened on the night when the toddler disappeared from her bed in the southern Portuguese resort on May 3, 2007. She was in the same room as her twin brother and sister, who were two years old at the time, while her parents had dinner with friends at a nearby restaurant.

Kate and Gerry McCann with a poster depicting an age progression computer-generated image of their missing daughter Madeleine in 2012. Photo / AP

Madeleine’s parents did not comment due to the active investigation, according to an email response from the website set up for the search for the child, findmadeleine.com.

- Helena Alves, AP