A JAPANESE samurai sword may have been used in the murder of a 24-year-old local man in Dundalk, Co Louth, on Saturday night.
The victim was named as Stephen Quigley. His body was discovered by a local woman in a lane off Avenue Road close to midnight.
The dead man was known to gardaí in the Dundalk area and they believe that the murder may be drugs-related.
"This is now a murder investigation,'' said a Garda source.
"We will be speaking to the dead man's family, to his friends and to his known associates, to try to establish his last movements."
The body of the victim was removed from the scene yesterday afternoon following a preliminary examination by Deputy State Pathologist Dr Michael Curtis.
A maroon-coloured car near the scene was condoned off and examined by the Garda forensic team.