THE GIRL spotted in Morocco by a Spanish tourist is not four-year old Madeleine McCann.
She is, in fact, Bouchra Benaisse, a five-year old who is the youngest member of a Moroccan family living in a small village of Zinat near Tetuan in the north of the country.
Hafida Achkar, mother of the little girl, was said to be very surprised by the fact her daughter’s face was in the media spotlight due to the Madeleine case.
The family was visited by a team of reporters from the French news agency AFP, and are said to have proved the girl’s identity with birth certificates and other documents, like her parents’ identification. Father Ahmed Ben Mohamed Benaissa and Hafida Achkar are both farmers.
Bouchra Benaisse was thought to be Madeleine, after Spanish tourist Clara Torres alerted authorities in Spain about a holiday photo she had taken at the beginning of August.
It showed a little blond girl being carried by a woman along a road.
Clara Torres reported the photo to the police after she heard about another tourist’s sighting in the region.
Meanwhile, the spokesman for the Procuradoria Geral a República, head of the public prosecutors board, told The Resident that “all lines of the investigation are being followed, including, obviously, the kidnapping scenario”.
He also said that investigation is analysing all documents it has received and following up leads on “all the people that might help to resolve the disappearance of Madeleine McCann”.
The public prosecutor is also said to have in place all procedures he considered necessary and convenient for the investigation.
There are three official suspects, or arguidos, in the case – Robert Murat and Kate and Gerry McCann.
1″>news
