Madeleine McCann search LIVE: Cops begin ‘now or never’ hunt in race against time to nail suspect Christian Brueckner

PA

German police face a ticking clock to finally get enough evidence to charge prime suspect Christian Brueckner.

The new search for Madeleine will focus on extensive groundworks that took place at the time she vanished.

A police theory is the three-year-old or her pyjamas might have been dumped in trenches near the Ocean Club in Praia da Luz where her family were staying in May 2007.

At least 30 agents from Germany’s FBI — the BKA — acting on a tip-off arrived in the Portuguese resort on Monday.

They are equipped with ground-penetrating radar that can scan 15ft below the surface.

The search area will include a cottage half a mile away used by the main suspect, German-national Brueckner, 48, and nearby scrubland.

The area was a rat run for prolific thief Brueckner and leads to the property where he raped a US woman in 2005 — for which he is currently in a German jail. 

A source said: “It’s now or never.”

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