Madeleine McCann case: prime suspect speaks for the first time — “I was selling drugs! Police stopped me three times”

The prime suspect in the disappearance of Madeleine McCann has revealed that he was selling drugs just 150 meters from the resort where the little girl vanished.

Speaking for the first time about his movements that night, Christian Brueckner said he was selling drugs on a beach near the Praia da Luz resort in Portugal’s Algarve, where Madeleine’s family was staying on the night she disappeared. He denies any involvement in the case of the 3-year-old.

German police named him as the prime suspect in Madeleine’s abduction and murder. She vanished in 2007 while her parents, Kate and Gerry McCann, were dining 100 meters away.

In an interview with the Mail on Sunday, he described how police stopped him in a van full of drugs as he tried to flee Praia da Luz on the night the child disappeared.

“I was on the beach, not far from her hotel, selling drugs,” he claimed.

“I had been to Spain and smuggled cannabis into Portugal. The police even stopped me three times on the road while they were looking for Mandy. Luckily, they didn’t find the drugs. My van was full of them,” he added.

Brueckner also said he had refused to comment on his alleged connection to Madeleine’s disappearance because, in his view, police wanted to pin the case on him.

He had previously stated: “I have nothing whatsoever to do with the girl’s disappearance. I would be happy if she turned up tomorrow — then everyone would immediately understand that everything against me is fabricated.”