Gardai launched a double murder investigation after the discovery of two bodies on a lake island, believed to be those of missing men Eoin O'Connor and Anthony Keegan.
The decomposed remains were located by garda divers on Inchicup Island in Lough Sheelin on the Cavan-Meath border yesterday afternoon.
It is understood that the bodies had been hidden on the small island and covered over with a tarpaulin.
The discovery was made by garda divers taking part in a focused search of the island after receiving specific information on their whereabouts.
Gardai will have to await a post-mortem examination before they can confirm the identities and determine cause of death.
But detectives believe that Mr O'Connor (32) and Mr Keegan (33) were murdered when they went to collect a drug debt in Co Cavan on April 22.
Sources
It is understood that gardai have now established a list of suspects as a result of information gleaned from the men's associates, other intelligence sources and phone traffic analysis.
And senior sources last night confirmed that gardai would be carrying out a number of arrests.
Yesterday's breakthrough is the culmination of more than 20 search operations carried out by gardai, mostly in the vicinity of Lough Sheelin lake near Mount Nugent.
A source said that officers had received intelligence that the bodies were somewhere in the area, but because of its sheer size it was difficult to cover.
The men's families had reported them missing to gardai in Dublin the day after they headed to Cavan.
A short time later an anonymous 999 call to Monaghan garda station claimed that two bodies, including that of Mr O'Connor, had been dumped in a field near Kilnaleck.
It later emerged he had instructed a relative to give gardai the name of a suspected drug dealer he planned to visit in Ballyjamesduff if he failed to return.
On April 25 gardai recovered the Ford Focus car the two men had been driving, in a car park overlooking Lough Owel outside Mullingar.
Irish Independent
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