Gardaí today opened a murder investigation after the discovery of a man's body in the freezer of a Galway city fish shop yesterday.
Officers confirmed an initial examination of the body had taken place, and a full postmortem is expected later today. Gardaí were unable to confirm the man's identity or nationality.
The area around the small building on St John's Avenue, Henry Street, was sealed off yesterday afternoon, pending the arrival of Garda technical experts.
It is hoped that postmortem results will give some indication of cause of death, and how long the man's body had been in the freezer unit, which is used to store fish.
It is understood that a staff member in the fish shop that uses the unit - behind its premises - found the body, and reported it to gardaí at about 2.30pm yesterday. Henry Street is a quiet and largely residential area of the city.
Galway mayor Niall Ó'Brolcháin described the murder a "pretty shocking".
"It sounds like something out of an American gangster movie. . . . It is not the type of crime we have experienced in Galway before."
