Disappeared search continues

Columba McVeigh: Disappeared in 1975

The search for the body of a teenager abducted, murdered and secretly buried by the IRA in the 1970s has continued close to the Irish border.

Columba McVeigh, 17, from Donaghmore in County Tyrone, was kidnapped and killed in 1975 after he allegedly admitted to spying on the IRA.

Two previous searches have taken place at a bog in Emyvale in County Mongahan where it is believed the body of Mr McVeigh - one of the so-called Disappeared - is buried.

The Northern Ireland commissioner for the Disappeared, Sir Kenneth Bloomfield, visited the site of the dig on Tuesday morning.

He later went to the home of the McVeigh family in Donaghmore to speak to the missing youth's mother.

News of a third dig at the same location came a little more than a week after the IRA said it had given new information about his grave to the Irish Government.

A team of up to 12 police officers using heavy machinery started to excavate bog land at Bragan on Monday.

The police have said that an area about the size of a football field is being excavated this week, adjacent to where previous searches took place in 1999 and 2000.

Dungannon SDLP councillor Vincent Currie, who brought the teenager's possessions back to the family 28 years ago, said someone knew where his remains were buried.

"If I had taken a young lad out, shot him and buried him every time I closed my eyes I'd see exactly where that grave was," he told BBC Radio Ulster on Tuesday.

Meanwhile, Sinn Fein has supported a motion at Dungannon District Council calling for allegations that Mr McVeigh was an informer to be withdrawn.

The council's Sinn Fein deputy chairman, Francie Molloy, said republicans never accused the teenager of being an informer.

The missing man's mother, Vera McVeigh, has said she may visit the stretch of bog land where the gardai are digging.

Police are searching a specific area of a Monaghan bog

Agnes McConville, the daughter of Jean McConville who was murdered by the IRA in 1972, travelled to the scene on Monday to show solidarity with the McVeigh family.

It is thought remains recovered from a beach in County Louth less than two weeks ago were her mother's.

"I hope the IRA will give out more information on the whereabouts of the rest of the families and let everybody be in peace," she said.

John Wilson from the Commission for the Location of Victims' Remains, said the search would concentrate on more specific areas than the previous two digs.

In a statement, the commission said the decision to proceed with the "limited search" was made following detailed consultations with the garda, regarding information received by the commission in the past week.

It added: "The commission would, however, caution against over optimism. Experience has shown that the passage of time can render unreliable even the most precise information from the best of sources."

Last week, sources within the Irish Government confirmed that they had held recent discussions with Sinn Fein about finding the bodies of the Disappeared.

The discussions focused on the case of Mr McVeigh and Mrs McConville.

In 1999, the IRA offered to help locate the bodies of the nine Disappeared but the remains of Mrs McConville and Mr McVeigh were not found, despite extensive excavations. Only three bodies were found.