Gardaí to halt search for IRA victim
Gardaí were today expected to halt a two-week-long search of a mountainside bog for the remains of a man kidnapped and murdered by the IRA nearly 30 years ago.
The search operation, near Emyvale, Co Monaghan, began after the IRA relayed new information about the location of Columba McVeigh’s body to the authorities.
Mr McVeigh. from Donaghmore, Co Tyrone, was one of Northern Ireland’s “disappeared” – people who were abducted and killed by the IRA over a period dating back more three decades.
This month marked the third time police have dug up the Emyvale bog in the search for Mr McVeigh’s body, but nothing has been found.
Mr McVeigh was 17 when he was kidnapped in 1975. The IRA, who claimed he was a spy, finally admitted his murder four years ago.
The latest search got under way 10 days after what are thought to be the remains of another of the disappeared, Jean McConville, were found on Shelling Hill beach in Co Louth.
Earlier searches of another beach in the same area for Mrs McConville had proved unsuccessful.
The mother of 10 was abducted from her Belfast home by an IRA gang in 1972.
She was accused of helping a British soldier who was fatally wounded during a gun battle near the Divis Flats complex in the city.
