A second-hand car salesman whose body was pulled from the River Lagan in Belfast may have been a drug dealer, police said today.
Ronald Todd (30), had been tied up and dumped in water soon after he vanished just before Christmas, detectives believe.
Det Supt Simon Barraclough said: "One of the main lines of inquiry we are following is that he was killed as a result of drug dealing activities."
Although the detective refused to disclose exactly how the victim had been killed, he said he had not been shot.
Postmortem tests carried after the father-of-one's body was discovered on Tuesday found he had suffered several serious head injuries.
Mr Todd, from Lisburn, Co Antrim, was last seen leaving a pub in the nearby village of Maghaberry on December 21st. He had been in the area, where he sold cars, with a business associate. His red SUV was found on fire a few miles away in Ravernet some 24 hours later.
Workers from the Laganside Corporation spotted a body near the Governor's Bridge in the Stranmillis area of the city just before noon on Tuesday.
Police confirmed the body had been submerged for a lengthy period of time, probably since soon after he vanished. It may have drifted from where it had been thrown in originally, and police believe several men were involved in dumping Mr Todd.
PA