Madeleine: Police probe routes between Morocco and Portugal
Drug and people smugglers have established a number of illegal routes from Morocco to Portugal which could be used to traffic people out of Europe.
Experts said using a legitimate form of transport, such as a ferry from Spain or an aeroplane from Lisbon, would be far more difficult due to the difficulty in getting good fake documents.
The publicity that the case of Madeleine McCann has attracted also means that it is likely that if she has been moved to Morocco, then it was via an illicit sea route from south Portugal.
The stretch of water between Portugal and North Africa has a recent history of being crossed by hashish and cocaine smugglers.
People traffickers have also used the routes in increasing regularity, but usually to move people illegally into Europe.
Carla Amaral, manager of a unit that helps trafficked people at the Portuguese Association for Victim Support, said: “There are always ways to smuggle people despite the difficulty. There are many routes already identified, but it is usually from Africa to Europe not the other way around.
She added that it would be more difficult in the case of Madeleine McCann due to the high profile of the case.
She said: “Everyone knows the face. It would not be through a legal transportation, by aeroplane or ship. I think it would be through another form.”
She added that it would also be harder if it was an one-off abduction rather than through an organised gang.
“In an isolated incident people would not think of all the details needed to avoid detection,” Ms Amaral added.
According to a Colombian government website dedicated to sharing information on drugs trafficking, illicit shipments to Portugal have increased in recent years - an indication that attempts to breach the borders by organised criminal gangs are becoming more regular.
Riika Putonen, crime prevention officer at the UN’s anti-human trafficking unit, said someone wanting to smuggle a child out of Portugal could use one of a number of established route.
She said: “There are several illegal routes across to Morocco from Portugal, but it is usually in the other direction.
“Of course, if you are industrious you can always find a way of getting across the border, that applies to all countries.”
Police in Portugal have already probed at least one claim that Madeleine McCann could have been taken to a marina in the town of Lagos, home to scores of private yachts.
Reports made soon after the four-year-old disappeared suggested that a balding man was seen dragging a girl towards the marina, just a short drive from the family’s holiday apartment in Praia da Luz.
