BRITISH detectives investigating the 2007 disappearance of Madeleine McCann in Portugal have reportedly arrested a man and raided his home.

Britain's Sunday Mirror, which last week featured claims from a lawyer who insisted a man he met at a party had seen the missing child on an island in the Mediterranean, now says an arrest has been made.

The paper is reporting that a man has been arrested by Greater Manchester Police and computers from a private home were seized.

"The arrest only happened as a result of a claim that Madeleine may still be alive," a source said to be close to the missing girl's family told the paper.

Madeleine McCann: Detectives working on a new timeline of disappearance and focus on 'a crucial 45 minutes' http://t.co/fiF2x0dEh7 — Daily Mirror (@DailyMirror) October 12, 2013

On Monday in the UK, detectives will publish new e-fits of men they want to contact, in a major public appeal that will also be shown in Germany and the Netherlands.

The prime time television programme will also present a fresh timeline of events surrounding the disappearance of the British girl from her family's holiday apartment, just a few days before her fourth birthday.

There is speculation they are seeking two German-speaking men over Maddie's disappearance, The Mail on Sunday reports.

The appeal will be shown on Tv in Germany and the Netherlands after Monday's British broadcast, in a bid to widen the search for new information.

"The reviewing and analysis of all available information has led to new insights and leads that, for the first time, point to Germany," a spokesperson for German TV's Aktenzeichen XY ... Ungelost told The Mail.

The e-fits will also appear on Dutch programme Opsporing Verzocht in an effort to find the men who may have been speaking German or Dutch, the paper said.

The British show will also include a new 25-minute reconstruction as well as live interviews with Gerry and Kate McCann, who launched a global media campaign to find their daughter and still hold out hope she is alive.

Portuguese authorities closed their investigation in 2008, but London's Metropolitan Police spent two years reviewing the evidence and opened their own probe in July this year.

Last week, the British force said analysis of mobile phone data from thousands of people who were in the resort of Praia da Luz when Madeleine disappeared could provide a new lead.

The detectives have interviewed 442 people over the last couple of years and have identified 41 potential suspects, although no arrests have been made.

In the BBC 'Crimewatch' programme on Monday night, e-fits of men seen in and around Praia da Luz at the time will be published in a bid to identify the men and eliminate innocent sightings.

"Primarily what we sought to do from the beginning is try and draw everything back to zero,'' said the chief investigating officer, Detective Chief Inspector Andy Redwood, in a clip from the programme released to the media.

"Try and take everything back to the beginning and reanalyse and reassess everything, accepting nothing.''

He said detectives were focused on the time between 8:30pm on May 3, 2007, when Kate and Gerry McCann left the apartment to dine at a nearby tapas restaurant with friends, to when Kate McCann found Madeleine was missing at 10:00pm.

"Our work to date has significantly changed the timeline and the accepted version of events that has been in the public domain to date,'' DCI Redwood added.

Last week the McCanns said they were "greatly encouraged by new information coming to light'' and said they hoped the BBC appeal would take them closer to find Madeleine.

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