Investigators have dismissed reports that Madeleine McCann had been spotted in Paraguay.
British man Miraz Ullah Ali Isa, who claims to be a private eye, had said Maddie was living 'in the custody of a woman' in the city of Aregua.
His claims are believed to have triggered a major search involving four local police stations, an anti-kidnapping division and Interpol.
Her parents, Kate and Gerry McCann, had been informed of the reports and appealed for anyone with information to come forward.
But investigators have now debunked the alleged sighting and questioned the credibility of researcher Miraz Ullah Ali Isa.
Debunked: Investigators have dismissed reports that Madeleine McCann had been spotted in Paraguay
Madeleine went missing from a holiday apartment in the Algarve resort of Praia de Luz in 2007 when she was three years old.
Over the weekend, Isa told local newspaper ABC Color: 'My team and I received the information that Madeleine arrived in Paraguay a month or two ago.'
He claimed that Maddie, who would now be 12 years old, was 'in the custody of a woman' in Aregua, about 17 miles from the capital of Asunción.
But he refused to reveal the name of his firm and wasn't able to offer any documentation to support his claims.
The newspaper also discredited his investigation by noting that he 'only stayed (in the country) a couple of days and didn’t speak with anyone.'
Mystery: Madeleine (pictured, left, aged three and, left, in a police computer generated image showing what she may look like aged nine) went missing from a holiday flat in the Algarve resort of Praia de Luz in 2007
But the report is still understood to have sparked in investigation.
Commissioner Sanny Amarilla, a deputy chief involved in the search, said four police stations, intelligence personnel from the Interior Ministry and Interpol divisions were involved in the search.
He said: 'We are investigating neighbourhoods where there are foreign citizens, villas, condos, to see if there is someone with a similar description that corresponds to the newspaper clipping.
'This news stretches across the globe, it is very important. So if they are in the area we need to find this girl and return her to her family.'
Heartache: Maddie's parents, Kate and Gerry McCann, had been informed of the reported sighting and appealed for anyone with information to come forward
But the allegations have now been dismissed by inspector Luis Ignacio Arias of Interpol in Paraguay, who said that his office had 'nothing concrete' about Isa's identity.
He told EFE the researcher had never contacted the National Police or the Foreign Ministry with his reported sighting.
Arias Paraguay’s National Police said it will launch an investigation into his story and identity.
The country’s vice minister of interior security, Jalil Rachid, told Radio Monumental that he also had no information on the missing girl living in Aregua.
Mr and Mrs McCann also said they had never heard of him.
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