German police investigating the disappearance of Madeleine McCann have dug up a garden plot in connection with their probe, prosecutors said.
Heavy machinery including a digger has been seen in an area near Hanover in Germany, believed to have been the home of prime suspect Christian Brueckner for a period some years ago.
Forensic investigators and officers with a sniffer dog have been witnessed examining the land.
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Julia Meyer, a spokeswoman for the prosecutor's office in Braunschweig confirmed local media reports that police investigators had been at the site since Monday with an excavator in connection with the case.
She told the Associated Press: "The procedure is taking place in connection with our investigation regarding Maddie McCann."
Ms Meyer said she could not give any further details on the procedure, adding only that police would "still need some more time to finish".
Local resident Maik Niemtschke told Sky News the search began at around 5:30am UK time and around 100 police officers have beein involved in the search.
He described the land, located between a road and river, as surrounding a bungalow, which is being used as a second home, and a garden shed.
Madeleine was three at the time of her 2007 disappearance from an apartment while her family was on holiday in the seaside town of Praia da Luz in Portugal's Algarve region.
German authorities said last month they had identified 43-year-old Brueckner as a suspect in the case and are investigating him on suspicion of murder.
Brueckner, who is currently in prison in Germany, spent many years in Portugal, including in Praia da Luz around the time of Madeleine's disappearance, and has two previous convictions for "sexual contact with girls", authorities have said.
He was last registered as living in Germany in the city of Braunschweig, which is about 40 miles from Hanover.
Prosecutors claim he was close to the Ocean Club complex in Praia da Luz, Portugal, about an hour before Madeleine is suspected to have been snatched by an intruder.
German authorities say they have evidence that the toddler was killed, but admitted they do not yet have enough evidence to charge Brueckner with her murder.
Brueckner is in jail in Kiel, in northern Germany, for drug trafficking and for the rape of a a 72-year-old American woman in Praia da Luz.
