http://news.sky.com/story/1256070/madeleine-mccann-police-to-dig-for-evidence11:20am UK, Tuesday 06 May 2014
Portuguese authorities have approved Met Police plans to dig for evidence in the resort where Madeleine McCann vanished in 2007.
Forensics officers will use ground penetrating radar equipment to search at three sites in Praia da Luz.
Sky's Crime Correspondent Martin Brunt, speaking from the police investigators' base in Faro, described the move as a "breakthrough" in the investigation.
He said: "We don't know exactly where the digging will take place and it's not an operation that's being launched on new information.
"It appears that there is information that was given to the Portuguese over the past seven years that indicated that there might be evidence to be found at certain locations.
"We think one of them may be the beach area and another may be around the apartments where Madeleine was last seen.
"It is a breakthrough and it really will launch a new phase in the investigation because this will be the first time that we will see Scotland Yard officers on the ground, not just talking to Portuguese police but working with them in the search for perhaps more tangible evidence."
