11 km radius around dam blocked to flights below 610 metres
As press packs from around the world return to Portugal for another flurry of police activity related to the disappearance of Madeleine McCann, Lusa reports that the ‘no-fly zone’ imposed around Silves’ Arade dam has only been reserved until 10pm this evening.
This gels with initial information that police were only likely to search the area for two days.
For the time being, beyond ever-increasing speculation and breathless reports with the dam in the background, there is no ‘news’.
Police activity has extended beyond digging to the use of ‘brush-cutters’ (strimmers) in some areas; a collection of bags “that could contain evidence” have been removed from the scene; “dozens of sniffer dogs” have been seen working the area.
Various reports suggest the police search operation was prompted by information given to German police “from a very reliable source”.
Beyond that, there is very little to ‘hold onto’. It has to be remembered that defence lawyer Friedrich Fülscher described the original source for German investigators’ focus on Christian Brückner as “the worst witness you can get”.
