Interpol, dentists, landlords to help identify dead man

Gardai have contacted Interpol as part of an extensive operation to identify the body found in a suitcase in Dublin's Royal Canal, near Croke Park, 11 days ago.

They are also contacting dentists throughout the Republic to try to identify the man through dental charts.

House-to-house inquiries are also being conducted in the immediate area around Binn's Bridge and the bridge at Jones's Road in Dublin's north inner city, where the body was found in a black nylon suitcase by two teenage boys.

The investigation involves 40 detectives, including members of the National Bureau of Criminal Investigation, the Immigration Unit, and Mountjoy and Fitzgibbon Street Garda stations.

Detectives are investigating the possibility that a dentist may have treated the man. Dental charts have been drawn up and will be shown to all dentists in the State. It is understood the victim had damaged two front teeth some years ago, which were subsequently repaired.

The nationality of the man, who died from head injuries, has not yet been established. Det Supt Cormac Gordon said yesterday that gardai had supplied the man's fingerprints and details of his clothing to Interpol, and were waiting to see if he had come to the agency's attention.

He is described as white, 5 10["]in height, between 25 and 40 years of age and approximately 11 1/2 to 12 stone in weight. He had short, brown, wavy hair. He was wearing a tan-coloured leather jacket with four buttons on the front, one of which was missing; a black V-necked top with twin white/cream stripes on the neck and a Next label; size 32 beige corduroy jeans, again with a Next label; and predominantly blue boxer shorts.

Following an appeal last week a large number of landlords in the area contacted Fitzgibbon Street and Mountjoy Garda stations about tenants they had not seen for some time. There have also been inquiries about missing people, including some queries from Northern Ireland, about persons not seen for some time who are believed to have been working in Dublin.

Gardai have checked through the missing persons files, and each person has been located or ruled out of the investigation. They are again asking landlords to check their tenants, as some might only realise a tenant has gone missing if rent payment does not go through.

The only item found apart from his clothing, and the bedclothes he was partially wrapped in, was a 1 1/2["]light brown and blue "worry stone", the origin of which gardai are attempting to trace.

It could have been picked up on a beach or bought in a shop, and detectives are currently talking to stores selling such items. They have also extended their inquiries to establish whether the stone might have been specific to a particular culture.

Investigating officers are trying to establish when and where the man's V-neck top was likely to have been manufactured and sold. The top is not as common as the trousers or the jacket, which are believed to be still available in the shops.

A number of football fans who attended the Leinster finals at Croke Park on July 15th reported seeing a suitcase in the canal, five days before the man's body was found. Those responsible for the waterways have also been contacted and the Garda sub-aqua team has conducted a search of the canal.

Anyone with information is asked to contact gardai at freephone 1800 218 219 or Fitzgibbon Garda station.