Two Portuguese newspapers, Correio da Manha and Jornal de Noticias cited unidentified police sources as saying the inquiry had been dropped due to a lack of evidence, as it remains unclear whether it is a case of abduction, homicide, or concealing of a body.
"As usual, these are non-attributed sources and we have not heard this officially. But if it is true it's not before time - Kate and Gerry [Madeleine's parents] have suffered enough," Sky News quoted the McCanns' spokesman, Clarence Mitchell, as saying.
"Police should lift their arguido [suspect] status and should pass their information over to our investigators who continue to work on the case," he went on. "We still need to find Madeleine."
The girl went missing soon before her fourth birthday during a holiday with her parents in the southern Portuguese resort of Praia da Luz after her parents left her sleeping in their apartment when they went for dinner at a nearby tapas restaurant.
Gerry and Kate McCann, who insist their daughter was abducted, became formal suspects on September 7 last year. If confirmed, the police decision is likely to clear them as suspects.
