It was probably of little consolation to the parents of Madeleine McCann to learn that Nigerian spiritualists, healers and herbalists – known as marabouts – had joined the paranormal hunt for their four-year-old daughter, who was snatched from her bed in Portugal.

The announcement of their involvement came from Malam Shehu Sani, the Civil Rights Congress (CRC) president and co-chairman of the Hand in Hand Africa organisation.

Unimpressed that “Western technology” had been unable to trace the missing toddler, the healers had decided to make their own response to the McCanns’ world-wide appeal for information, even though they point out that “millions of children are kidnapped, especially in Third World countries, and nobody cares about it.”

The CRC president explained that some marabouts would sacrifice rams, goats and hens in order to learn about the child’s disappearance, while others would use their knowledge of the Holy Qu’ran to gain information.

“Their only condition is to be given all the necessary impetus and incentives,” Malam Shehu Sani added. “They said by the time we reassembled them in the next seven days they will tell us not only where Madeleine McCann is, but they will tell the world who kidnapped her.”

An impressive promise that was soon put into perspective when the CRS president was asked what would happen if they failed.

“If they succeed it is going to be a plus to Africa and its artistry,” he responded. “The way the western world and the so-called modern advance societies take our culture, our tradition and our root, which they usually condemn as superstition, will be proven wrong. If they fail, there is no ill feeling about it. It is simply that they are also unable to trace her whereabouts in as much as the West with all its technology could also not say her whereabouts.”

I see.

I’ve sat on this story since it appeared on the Weekly Trust web page on 2 June 2007, to give the healers seven days to come up with the information they promised.

That time has elapsed and – surprise, surprise – there has been no further announcement from Malam Shehu Sani, the Civil Rights Congress or the website which carried the story (which it has now removed).

And, of course, Madeleine McCann is still missing. As, presumably, are the £200 fee for their work and the various animals whose lives had to be sacrificed.