Scotland Yard is set to investigate an ‘important’ new lead in the disappearance of Madeleine McCann.<\/p>\n
Extra funding has been allocated to the Met to probe the information, which is said to strengthen the theory that the British girl was\u00a0kidnapped by a trafficking gang.\u00a0 Detectives will work on the assumption that Maddie was snatched by a gang of European traffickers after taking photographs of her.\u00a0 The new development is said to be the ‘last throw of the dice’ into the investigation of the youngster’s disappearance in Portugal in 2007, when she was three years old.<\/p>\n
The Sun on Sunday<\/strong><\/a> reported that the latest lead has been treated with the utmost importance, with Whitehall officials kept in the loop on its progress.<\/p>\n A source told the newspaper: ‘This is an important new line of inquiry which could provide an explanation on whether Madeleine was abducted and transported away.<\/p>\n \u2018It raises hope that she could still be alive.’<\/p>\n It is understood that current funding for the investigation will enable it to run until April, when it is due to reviewed again.<\/p>\n Madeleine was three years old when she went missing from the holiday apartment at the Ocean Club in Praia da Luz on May 3, 2007.<\/p>\n Portuguese police, working in co-operation with Scotland Yard, reopened the investigation in 2013 amid talk of fresh leads but last year the Metropolitan Police announced it had reduced the number of officers it had working on the case from 29 to four.<\/p>\n Last year, the Government also revealed that the investigation, code-named Operation Grange, had cost more than \u00a310million.\u00a0 Forensic investigations into the disappearance were concluded in August after the final scientific tests carried out three months ago ‘didn’t take the police forward’.<\/p>\n Source http:\/\/www.dailymail.co.uk\/news\/article-3997982\/Scotland-Yard-given-extra-funding-probe-important-new-lead-theory-Madeleine-McCann-kidnapped-trafficking-gang.html<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"