British police searches scrubland for missing British girl Madeleine McCann, in Praia da Luz, Algarve. LUIS FORRA LUIS FORRA

BRITISH POLICE INVESTIGATING the the disappearance of Madeleine McCann at a Portuguese holiday resort are expected to begin digging shortly.

An area of wasteland near the Pria da Luz holiday apartment has been sealed off, with radar equipment and sniffer dogs being brought in to aid the search.

Officers are thought to be using ground-penetrating radar equipment to probe the ground, looking for disturbed earth.

Metropolitan Police Assistant Commissioner Mark Rowley said previously that detectives were examining every credible line of inquiry in the search for Madeleine, who was almost four when she disappeared.

He said the search was going to be “a substantial phase of operational activity on the ground in Portugal”.

“A thorough serious crime investigation works systematically through all the credible possibilities, and often in an investigation you will have more than one credible possibility.”

British police tape off an area of scrubland close to where Madeleine McCann went missing seven years ago. Philip Toscano Philip Toscano

Rowley also previously urged the media to avoid speculation about excavation work and to “think carefully” about information they published despite the high interest in the case.

Philip Toscano Philip Toscano

Media warning

Rowley warned that Portuguese police did not provide the media with regular updates on investigations, and that any activity in Portugal would be halted if police in Britain gave out information to the media, or if journalists disrupted the search.

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Madeleine’s parents Kate and Gerry have never given up hope that their daughter is alive.

The case has been kept in the public eye by a high-profile media campaign orchestrated by her parents.

Following the case being wound up in 2008, British police re-examined the evidence and opened its own investigation in July last year, closely followed by the Portuguese authorities.

Gerry McCann has expressed his gratitude for the police investigation, which he said was now moving on to a “very active” phase.

“They are chipping away and obviously there is new evidence so we are going to continue to hope that we will get a happy outcome,” he said.

- © AFP 2014.

Read: Madeleine McCann: Police search wasteland near holiday apartment>

Read: Madeleine McCann: Police begin ground searches near apartment complex>