Gardaí work with NCA to establish identity of body found off County Donegal coast

Gardaí are working with the UK’s National Crime Agency to identify the body of a man found off the coast of Co Donegal.

It is believed the man may be Robert Wilkin who was due to go on trial over a multi-million pound drug seizure later this year.

Mr Wilkin, who is from Northern Ireland, was arrested by the NCA in August 2021 after his lorry was stopped at Coquelles with £5.7m cocaine and heroin on board. It is thought he was from Tyrone and had been living in Essex in England for a period.

In a statement, the NCA said they are “working with the Irish police to ascertain whether it is the same person”.

The body was recovered in the waters around the mountain of Slieve League on Monday.

On Tuesday An Garda Siochana said the results of the post-mortem are not being released for “operational purposes”.

Gardai investigating an alleged assault in the Slieve League/Killybegs area of Co Donegal on the weekend of June 24-25 in relation to the incident arrested a man and a woman arrested who were later released without charge.

Gardai have established an incident room at Ballyshannon Garda station.

They have appealed to anyone travelling in the vicinity of Killybegs/Slieve League between the afternoon of Saturday June 24 and the evening of Sunday June 25 and who observed any activity that drew their attention to come forward.

Any road users travelling in these areas at these times who may have camera footage, including dash-cam, have been asked to make it available to investigating gardai.

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