By . Gerard Couzens . Review: Madeleine McCann vanished in 2007 . Police in Portugal have put together a new team of detectives to assist Scotland Yard in the hunt for Madeleine McCann. They have been told to help officers from the Met and have been given a long list of people British police want them to interview about Madeleine’s disappearance in 2007 while on holiday with her parents in the Algarve. None of the detectives involved in the shambolic initial Portuguese investigation is thought  to have been chosen. The new team is expected to start work in the next few weeks. It will question more than 30 ‘people of interest’, thought to include a taxi driver who thinks he may have picked up Madeleine, then aged three, the night after she vanished from her hotel while her parents were at a tapas bar 50 yards away. Cabbie Antonio Castela, 73, said he picked up three men, a woman and a child resembling Madeleine about an hour’s drive from the resort and dropped them off at a hotel. He gave a statement to Portuguese police but was never questioned afterwards. British detectives are hoping to be allowed to participate in the interviews, although the Portuguese have made it clear that if they are given permission public prosecutors will be with them at all times. Disappearance: Gerry McCann, father of Madeleine, in Praia da Luz, Portugal where she was last seen . The formation of the Portuguese police team will be seen as a major step forward by British authorities pushing for a renewed effort in  the investigation. Home Secretary Theresa May sent an official request for assistance last month to Portugal’s attorney general. The document containing the request is thought to have included the names of the 38 people across Europe identified as ‘of interest’ by a Home Office-funded Met Police review team. The vast majority are thought to be in Portugal. Ongoing investigation: Kate and Gerry McCann hold a news conference to mark the 5th anniversary of the disappearance . Several witnesses, believed to be British tourists, have already been interviewed again in the UK. Detective Chief Inspector Andy Redwood, who is leading the Met’s review into the case, called Operation Grange, has said he believes Madeleine is still alive. The initial Portuguese inquiry was shelved in 2008 and the authorities there have insisted that providing assistance to the British review does not equate to a reopening of their  own investigation.
New Portuguese police team are on the hunt for Madeleine McCann .
No detectives from initial Portuguese investigation reportedly chosen .
By . Gerard Couzens . Review: Madeleine McCann vanished in 2007 . Police in Portugal have put together a new team of detectives to assist Scotland Yard in the hunt for Madeleine McCann. They have been told to help officers from the Met and have been given a long list of people British police want them to interview about Madeleine’s disappearance in 2007 while on holiday with her parents in the Algarve. None of the detectives involved in the shambolic initial Portuguese investigation is thought  to have been chosen. The new team is expected to start work in the next few weeks. It will question more than 30 ‘people of interest’, thought to include a taxi driver who thinks he may have picked up Madeleine, then aged three, the night after she vanished from her hotel while her parents were at a tapas bar 50 yards away. Cabbie Antonio Castela, 73, said he picked up three men, a woman and a child resembling Madeleine about an hour’s drive from the resort and dropped them off at a hotel. He gave a statement to Portuguese police but was never questioned afterwards. British detectives are hoping to be allowed to participate in the interviews, although the Portuguese have made it clear that if they are given permission public prosecutors will be with them at all times. Disappearance: Gerry McCann, father of Madeleine, in Praia da Luz, Portugal where she was last seen . The formation of the Portuguese police team will be seen as a major step forward by British authorities pushing for a renewed effort in  the investigation. Home Secretary Theresa May sent an official request for assistance last month to Portugal’s attorney general. The document containing the request is thought to have included the names of the 38 people across Europe identified as ‘of interest’ by a Home Office-funded Met Police review team. The vast majority are thought to be in Portugal. Ongoing investigation: Kate and Gerry McCann hold a news conference to mark the 5th anniversary of the disappearance . Several witnesses, believed to be British tourists, have already been interviewed again in the UK. Detective Chief Inspector Andy Redwood, who is leading the Met’s review into the case, called Operation Grange, has said he believes Madeleine is still alive. The initial Portuguese inquiry was shelved in 2008 and the authorities there have insisted that providing assistance to the British review does not equate to a reopening of their  own investigation.
Scotland Yard in the hunt for Madeleine McCann. involved in the shambolic initial Portuguese Portuguese police team will be seen as a major investigation.