Investigators searching a site close to where British toddler went missing can end their operation this afternoon, it is reported. Officers could be seen holding pitchforks as they combed the land in an area on the outskirts of Lagos in Portugal on Thursday, as search teams of German and Portuguese police officers and firefighters hunted for evidence.

The team have spent three days scouring scrubland and abandoned structures, but it is understood officers will conclude the searches on Thursday, if no significant progress is made. The operation is understood to have cost £300,000 and comes following an investigation into a paedophile who lived close by at the time of the young girl's disappearance. British officers have not been present at the latest searches, the Metropolitan Police said.

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