British police investigating the disappearance of three-year-old Madeleine McCann at a Portuguese holiday resort said today that search "activity" would begin in the next few weeks.
The disclosure from the Metropolitan Police comes after reports that British police want to use radar equipment to search land close to the apartment complex in Praia da Luz where Madeleine disappeared in 2007.
Met Police Assistant Commissioner Mark Rowley said activity would occur in "forthcoming weeks", but he was unable to give more details.
In a letter to editors, he urged the British media to avoid speculation about excavation work and to "think carefully" about information they published despite the high interest in the case.
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.
The announcement came almost seven years to the day after the British girl's disappearance.
Her parents Kate and Gerry have never given up hope that their daughter is alive.
In March, British detectives said they were looking for a paedophile who sexually abused five girls during break-ins at holiday homes between 2004 and 2010 in the Algarve region of southern Portugal where Praia da Luz is located.
The man is suspected of breaking in to 12 properties where British families were staying.
Madeleine vanished just days before her fourth birthday in May 2003 from the bedroom of a holiday apartment while her parents dined in a nearby restaurant with friends.
Portuguese police officially closed their investigation in 2008, which at times proved controversial, especially after they indicted the girl's parents in connection with her disappearance.
