UK police identify ‘persons of interest’ in Madeleine McCann case

British detectives said Friday they had identified a number of “people of interest” in connection with the disappearance of Madeleine McCann, who went missing on holiday in Portugal in 2007.

But Scotland Yard said it had not asked Portuguese police to make any arrests in connection with the missing girl.

“We are reviewing a significant number of documents and continue to identify potential lines of inquiry,” the Metropolitan Police Service (MPS) said in a statement.

But it any suggestion they had asked the Portuguese police to make arrests, was “entirely inaccurate”, it added.

Detective Chief Superintendent Hamish Campbell, who is in charge of the case, said the review had identified “both investigative and forensic opportunities to support the Portuguese.

“There is more than a handful of people of interest which could be explored further if only to be eliminated,” Campbell said.

“The key things are to investigate the case and our work is happening to support the Portuguese.”

Madeleine was three when she vanished from the family’s holiday flat in Praia da Luz on Portugal’s south coast in May 2007, while her parents were at dinner.

The toddler’s disappearance sparked an intense media frenzy and an international police investigation.

A spokesman for the McCanns said they were “very, very pleased” with the police review so far.