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LISBON - Portuguese police today searched a villa up the road from where four-year-old British girl Madeleine McCann was snatched and took a British man to a police station for questioning, local television reported.
Robert Murat, who had been acting as an official translator for the police searching for Madeleine, was taken to a local police station today the UK Times newspaper reported.
However, according to London's Daily Telegraph, his mother Jennifer told reporters that her son had not been arrested.
The villa, just 100 metres from the apartment where Madeleine was snatched in Praia da Luz, Portugal and believed to be owned by Murat's mother, was searched by forensic teams in white suits and paper masks, the Telegraph reported.
According to reports, forensics officers drained the pool, lifted the concrete slabs off the patio and dug up the soil underneath.
Local broadcaster SIC Noticias said a member of the family at the villa often spoke to reporters and had said Madeleine looked like his daughter in England.
The search took place as the parents of the girl kidnapped 11 days ago said they remained positive their daughter was safe and vowed to keep up the search for her.
"Until there is concrete evidence to the contrary, we believe that Madeleine is safe and being looked after and that is how we can continue in our efforts,' said Gerry McCann in a statement read to reporters on Monday.
"We can't even consider returning home at the moment, I absolutely can't even let it enter my head," his wife, Kate, said when asked when she was considering going home.
The McCanns praised the Portuguese police for their work and thanked people for the widespread support they had received.
Celebrity donations have pushed up the reward offered for Madeleine's safe return to 2.6 million pounds ($7.12 million).
Harry Potter author JK Rowling, tycoons Sir Philip Green and Sir Richard Branson, Wayne Rooney and Simon Cowell have all contributed and a special fighting fund is being set up.
It was the first time Kate McCann had answered questions from the media since Madeleine was snatched from her bed on May 3 in a popular resort in the Algarve in southern Portugal, just yards from where her parents were dining in a nearby restaurant.
Yesterday Portugal's leading investigator, Olegario Sousa, said some potential leads had been eliminated, but there have been no arrests in connection with Madeleine's abduction.
- REUTERS
