A local police source confirmed to CNN that the searches last Thursday were related to the investigation into McCann’s disappearance, but to the best of the source’s knowledge, no new information was discovered.
Portuguese Judicial Police (PJ), National Guard officers (GNR) and at least one diver from the fire department were involved, witnesses told the village of Budens, near Praia da Luz, on CNN.
McCann was 3 years old when he disappeared in 2007 while on vacation with his family in Praia da Luz. Prosecutors in Germany recently said they have evidence that can link a man there to the case, the first major move in the prominent, long-running case after years of little progress.
The wells are about 15 minutes from Praia da Luz, on a path that leads to a semi-isolated beach popular with foreigners, especially those traveling by campervan.
The suspect in McCann’s disappearance had lived in the Portuguese Algarve region between 1995 and 2007, and also resided in a house in Praia de Luz, according to the German prosecutor’s office in Braunschweig.
Prosecutors said last month they have evidence that the man, now incarcerated in Germany for another crime, killed McCann, but not enough to charge him.
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