The RUC and a hospital trust are making inquiries after a 15-week-old foetus was discovered in a van belonging to a hospital worker.
Police were called when a member of the public saw a foetus in a jar in the back of a van in Dunmurry, on the outskirts of Belfast, last September. The van belonged to a freelance mortician working for the Ulster Hospital at Dundonald in east Belfast.
In a statement the Ulster Community and Hospitals Trust, which runs the hospital, described the situation as "very serious and distressing" and said that as soon as the trust had been informed by the RUC "the individual was immediately suspended and an inquiry established".
A spokesman for the trust said: "While the identity of the foetus is not certain, the police have established a line of inquiry, and we are currently awaiting the results of DNA tests".
An RUC spokeswoman said: "The RUC has made and is continuing to make intensive inquiries". She said the mortician had been interviewed but stressed it had not been established that any crime had been committed.
Speaking to The Irish Times, the mortician at the centre of the incident, Mr Stephen Rutherford (42), said he was content that he had done nothing wrong. "No crime has been committed. No wrongdoing has been committed," he said.
Media coverage of the incident had been "most unhelpful" for any families who might fear their unborn child had been involved, said Mr Rutherford, who lives in Dunmurry.
He said he believed both the police and health trust inquiries would clear him of any blame.
"As far as I know I have been vindicated. I am just waiting for clarification," he said, adding that he had been advised by his lawyer not to say anything further.
Mr Rutherford had been quoted in the Belfast Telegraph as saying he had been struck with an illness which lasted some time while he was taking the foetus to a funeral director and had not delivered his charge.
"Unfortunately, for the first time in my life I found myself in a position where I was sick for a few weeks. It is regrettable and unfortunate," he was reported as saying.
A spokesman for the Department of Health said it had not known of the incident until it was reported yesterday. It is understood that the Minister for Health, Ms Bairbre de Brun, has asked for a full report on the matter, but the spokesman would only say: "We are aware of the circumstances and we expect a full report from the trust as soon as possible".