The family of one of the Irishmen murdered in the Netherlands by gangsters in the drugs trade arrived in The Hague yesterday to meet Dutch justice officials investigating the case.
Four members of the family of Mr Damian Monaghan (24), from Childers Road, Ennis, Co Clare, travelled to The Hague yesterday.
Mr Monaghan is believed to have been in the apartment in the seaside resort of Scheveningen with two Co Tipperary brothers, Mr Vincent and Mr Morgan Costello, when they were attacked and murdered.
No positive identification of the three has taken place and Dutch prosecutors and police are waiting until they have full DNA matches before making any official statement on the identities of the dead men.
The process of identification was made more difficult by the fact that two stolen passports were found in the flat, one belonging to a Co Limerick man who had his passport stolen in Amsterdam in 1998 and another belonging to a Northern Ireland woman.
Last evening, Ms Brenda Monaghan, Mr Monaghan's sister, said the family wished to point out that their brother had no criminal record and appealed for compassion from the media in their coverage of the events in Scheveningen. She was accompanied by her mother Nora, brother David and aunt Joan. Mr Monaghan was one of 10 children.
Police believe the men were tortured and murdered by a gang which had lost a large amount of drugs and firearms and had members arrested as a result of recent police action. It is thought the gang might have targeted Mr Costello who rented the apartment in Scheveningen and that his younger brother and Mr Monaghan might have been killed as they were there at the time.
The bodies were found in the bathroom of the apartment last Saturday week.