Gardaí investigating a murder are today searching a beach on the Co Meath coast where a man was found shot dead yesterday.
Roy Coddington, who is in his 30s and from the Drogheda area, was shot several times in the head after a gang pulled him from a car near sand dunes at Mornington.
He was found dead yesterday afternoon near Tower Road on on the beach close to where the River Boyne flows into the sea. He was killed as children and dog owners walked along the beach and through the dunes.
A large section of the shoreline will remain sealed off throughout the day as forensic examinations and searches are carried out.
Mr Coddington's body was taken to hospital in Drogheda last night, and a postmortem will be carried out today in either Dublin or Dundalk.
The murder was the fourth gangland-style killing hit this year and follows record levels of gun crime in 2006 that saw 26 killings.
Mr Coddington had been heavily involved in drug dealing for about 15 years and was well known to gardaí in the Louth-Meath division. Some of his close associates were similarly well known and, unlike the murder victim, have served long sentences for drug dealing.