The Madeleine McCann investigation spearheaded by Portuguese and British officials continues but authorities this week ended their search of a patch of land near the Praia da Luz resort where the then-3-year-old went missing in 2007.
It's not clear what, if anything, they found.
Around 20 investigators spent Wednesday scouring two areas either side of a highway on the outskirts of the Algarve resort of Praia da Luz.
But, that evening, police removed cordons around the search area, took their equipment, and left the scene, according to an Agence France-Presse photographer.
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A police source told AFP that the search had been "requested by Scotland Yard," without giving a reason.
The source added that British police asked the Portuguese authorities to question people of interest to the investigation.
British detectives received authorization from the Portuguese authorities last month to search near the resort complex where Madeleine disappeared from her bedroom in May 2007 as her parents dined with friends at a nearby tapas restaurant.
Police spent last week using sniffer dogs and ground radar to search another area around 700 meters from the resort. That search did not lead to any significant discovery, according to the Portugese media.
The Portuguese investigation into Madeleine's disappearance was wound up in 2008. But British police re-examined the evidence and opened its own investigation in July last year, closely followed by the Portuguese authorities.
The case has been kept in the public eye by a high-profile media campaign orchestrated by her parents Kate and Gerry McCann.
One line of enquiry for Scotland Yard is a lone male paedophile who staged a series of sex attacks on young British girls while they were on holiday in the Algarve.
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