By RUTH SHARPE [email protected]
EXACTLY TWO weeks since her disappearance, Portuguese police have said that the investigation to find Madeleine McCann is moving forward and that they are not struggling.
At a press conference held in Portimão onThursday (May 17) evening, police spokesman Olegário Sousa confirmed that a police search had been carried out at a home in Praia da Luz and various materials had been seized that could help with the investigation.
Sousa confirmed that the evidence was being analysed. The owner of the seized materials is believed to be 22-year-old Russian, Sergey Malinka, but the police spokesman did not confirm the name or nationality of the witness due to the Judicial Secrecy system that operates in Portugal.
In a press conference Sousa said the inquiry was “not struggling” but was “going on”.
There had not been enough evidence to arrest the only formal suspect, Briton Robert Murat, 33, he said.
Sousa said police had received information about a number of possible sightings, but that nothing could be confirmed.
Any information given to the police was studied and various departments were analysing photos, he said.
Malinka, who has been questioned over her disappearance, has denied any involvement and stressed that he had been interviewed as a witness and not a suspect.
Sousa confirmed this at the conference saying: “He has been interviewed as a witness, a witness is not a suspect, but it may be that during the course of the investigation things could change.
“It’s a very dynamic investigation. The suspect couldn’t become a witness, but the witness could become a suspect.”
