Why UK has launched search for an undercover Captain who disappeared in 1977

The first search operation to find the remains of Captain Robert Nairac, who was abducted and murdered by the IRA in 1977, has commenced. Nairac lost his life in May 1977 while he was working undercover.

According to BBC, the search for his remains will be conducted for the very first-time since his disappearance by the Independent Commission for the Location of Victims Remains (ICLVR). The body noted that it has “sufficient credible information” to begin a search of private land in the Faughart area near Dundalk.

The 29-year-old captain was abducted from a pub at Dromintee in South Armagh. He was then taken across the Irish border to Flurry Bridge, where he was eventually beaten and shot dead. However, the exact location of his death and where his body was buried remained a mystery.

The operation started after several appeals

In recent years, there has been major rise in the number of appeals for the information of the slain captain. The ICLVR which will be responsible for the whole ordeal was established by the British and Irish governments in 1999 to find the Disappeared – 17 individuals murdered by republicans during the Troubles and secretly buried. The body has managed to find the remains of 13 victims as of now.

“Robert Nairac is one of the highest profile Disappeared and yet his case is one in which we have had very little to go on,” ICLVR’s lead investigator, Jon Hill, said. “We believe that we do now have sufficient credible information to warrant a search," he added.

Hills inisted that “neither the landowner nor the tenant” have any connection to the decision to search the location. The area is just said to be less than one acre in size. “We are not time-limited but given the relatively small area I do not anticipate a protracted search period of many months. The Nairac family have been told that a search is about to commence and we will of course keep them informed of any developments," Hill explained.

“I am not going to put a number on the degree of confidence that we have that we will find his remains but if they are there we have the skills, ability and experience to find them," he concluded.

Challenges that came with it

Hill also elucidated the challenges that involved in this operation and insisted that he does not want to set a timescale. “It is on Faughart Hill, a battlefield site from the 1300s, so that presents a number of challenges to us,” he told BBC Radio on Sunday.

“Not least that we have had to engage with National Monuments Ireland who have been very supportive of the work we are doing, but it has meant we have had to add extra layers within our searching strategy to deal with any archaeology and perhaps even human remains that may be found that aren’t related to Robert Nairac. We will search until we find him or have eliminated that area," he added.

The ICLVR noted that it has co-operation of the National Monuments Service. In the past, the commission has previously dismissed rumours that Capt Nairac’s body was disposed of in a meat processing plant.

With inputs from agencies.