The abduction of Madeleine McCann may be linked to a trafficking network that sees children put on the market for £7,000, detectives have said. Missing MadeleineEastern European gangs are holding auctions in supermarket car-parks in Portugal and France.

Officers in France have released details of the trade, as they believe it may be related to the four-year-old's disappearance, a Sky source said.

In one case, the mother of a baby boy was arrested for attempting to sell her baby North of Lisbon.

And two Romanian couples were arrested in a supermarket car park in the North of Bordeaux when attempting to sell a girl.

Madeleine was snatched from her bed in her family's holiday flat in the Portuguese resort of Praia da Luz on May 3.

Shoppers in Monaco reported seeing a girl of similar age and appearance to the missing child escaping her abductors when they attempted to cut off her hair.

However, experts have questioned whether child traffickers or a childless couple are behind the disappearance, as they would have taken her younger siblings, who were with her at the time.

Younger children are easier to abduct and smuggle, and are easier to 'mould'.

Meanwhile, the number of reported sighting of the youngster in Malta has risen to 14, with three new sightings on Saturday.

All 1,800 officers have been given a picture of Madeleine while the airport and harbours are on high alert.

CCTV footage is also being checked to see if it shows the child being brought onto the island.