Madeleine Mccann Inquiry Takes New Turn As Two Arrested in Spain

Police in southern Spain arrested two people yesterday, apparently in connection with the investigation into the missing British toddler Madeleine McCann, it was reported last night.

According to the Spanish newspaper El País, an Italian man was detained by specialist anti-kidnap police in the town of Sotogrande, close to Gibraltar, early yesterday. The paper said the man was being held on suspicion of a possible extortion plot against the family of the child, who disappeared on May 3 from a holiday apartment in the Portuguese resort of Praia da Luz.

The suspect was apparently arrested after an international warrant was issued by the French authorities, but Spanish police said: "We are investigating whether this is linked to Madeleine's disappearance."

The paper said that the man had already tried to blackmail the McCann family, and quoted other sources suggesting that he had been sought by French police in connection with a case of child abuse.

French police refused to comment on the reports, referring inquiries back to Spanish and Italian authorities.

Chief Inspector Olegario Sousa, the Portuguese officer leading the investigation in the Algarve, told the Guardian that two people were arrested in the operation. Portuguese officers had been called in by their Spanish counterparts to assist in an operation in Spain that began early yesterday, he said, adding that he could not yet confirm whether the arrests were directly linked with Madeleine's disappearance. Other sources suggested that the second person arrested was a Portuguese woman, but Mr Sousa would not confirm this.

The reported arrests, 56 days after Madeleine's disappearance, were the most significant breakthrough in some weeks in the kidnap investigation. The only other person to have been arrested in connection with the case is Robert Murat, a British man who lives in Praia da Luz. Mr Murat's house was searched and he was questioned at length but he was not charged.

Madeleine was four days short of her fourth birthday when she vanished from the bedroom of her parents' holiday apartment while they ate dinner in a nearby restaurant. She was apparently taken from her bedroom while her two-year-old twin siblings slept beside her.

Despite a huge search in the nearby area during the days following the disappearance, and an energetic publicity operation which has seen posters of the missing child distributed throughout Europe and north Africa, there have been no confirmed sightings of Madeleine since she disappeared.

Kate and Gerry McCann, her parents, went on a tour of European and north African cities this month in an attempt to widen the appeal for information, visiting Rome, Lisbon, Madrid, Berlin, Amsterdam and Rabat, but the breakthrough for which the family longs remains elusive.

Last night John McCann, Gerry's brother, said he had not yet been given information relating to the arrest.

"We have no comment to make, because we know no more than we have seen on the news," he said. Madeleine's great-uncle, Brian Kennedy, told Sky News: "We are trying not to get our hopes up too much because they so frequently get dashed."

Mr and Mrs McCann, from Rothley in Leicestershire, have remained in Praia da Luz since their daughter vanished and have vowed not to return to the UK until she is found.