Columba McVeigh disappeared in 1975 The organisation responsible for finding the remains of the "disappeared" of the Northern Ireland troubles have announced details of a search in the Republic of Ireland.Remains are to be exhumed from a church graveyard near Scotstown, County Monaghan.
Previous digs in the search for Columba McVeigh have taken place nearby.
Mr McVeigh,17, from Donaghmore, County Tyrone, was abducted and murdered by the IRA in 1975.
North Monaghan coroner, Dr Martin Watters, confirmed he authorised the exhumation from a named grave in a cemetery next to a church in Urbleshanny.
"In the recent past I gave the go ahead for an exhumation to identify the remains within that grave," he said.
"It was an official grave within the graveyard."
An Irish police spokesman said detectives and officials in the Independent Commission for the Location of Victims' Remains (ICLVR) received information about a body buried in a grave where another set of remains is interred.
"The purpose of the exhumation is to carry out a forensic examination to establish if a victim that comes within the remit of the Commission was buried at this location," the spokesman said.
State pathologist Professor Marie Cassidy, ICLVR staff and scientists were all on site for the exhumation.
The Irish police spokesman said that subsequent forensic examination of the remains would take some time.
Despite extensive searches in County Monaghan, Mr McVeigh's remains have yet to be found.
His mother had campaigned tirelessly on her son's case before her death in 2007.
ICLVR has overseen the discovery of seven bodies and numerous searches since it was set up in 1999 to locate those murdered and buried in secret graves by republican paramilitaries during the troubles.
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