Gardai investigating the death of a 21-year-old Romanian yesterday stepped up their efforts to retrieve his dental records by telexing the western Bosnian authorities through Interpol for assistance.
The man's body was in a suitcase thrown into the Royal Canal in Dublin last month.
Det Supt Cormac Gordon, of Fitzgibbon Street Garda station, said a number of new witnesses had come forward over the weekend to confirm the victim's identity.
However, the process would not be completed until the dental records had been retrieved.
"We can't say who he is until then," he said.
An earlier request for the dental records had been made on Saturday, he confirmed. This followed the provisional identification of the body by fellow Romanians who had called to the station after the victim's photograph was published last week.
It appears that he came from an area of west Bosnia, the Garda now believes.
At this stage it was not possible to know just "how good" such dental records would be if they were retrieved, said Det Supt Gordon.
"It may take a few days," he added.
Another problem was presented by the fact that the man, who died as a result of head injuries inflicted with a blunt instrument, was a construction worker who had worked at a number of sites around Dublin.
As this was the annual holiday period for the construction industry, it would take time for the Garda to interview colleagues and employers and to amass further information.
