The Army bomb disposal team was called to Limerick last night after gardaí investigating the murder of a 26-year-old man discovered a suspicious object near the crime scene.
The body of Thomas Moran, from O'Malley Park, Southill, was discovered on waste ground beside a house in Ashe Avenue, John Carew Park, Limerick, at about 1am yesterday.
It is understood the 26-year-old died from gunshot wounds. However, gardaí were still awaiting the results of a postmortem, which was being carried out by State Pathologist Prof Marie Cassidy last night.
Mr Moran's body was discovered after the emergency services were called to a fire at a house, beside which the body was found.
Gardaí have not said if the fire - which gutted a downstairs sitting-room of the house - was suspicious. However, they have confirmed that the dead man did not live at the house, which is privately owned.
It is believed that Mr Moran, who was known to gardaí for minor offences, was lured to the area under false pretences.
As detectives combed the crime scene yesterday, a suspicious package - initially believed to be a "grenade-type device" - was discovered shortly before 5pm in a field adjoining the area where the body was found.
The Army's bomb disposal team from Collins Barracks in Cork was immediately called in to examine the item, which has not yet been linked to yesterday's murder.
An Army spokesman last night confirmed that the item was not a hand-grenade, as earlier suspected.
The spokesman described the device as a box of "sophisticated fireworks" which posed "no immediate threat".
Meanwhile, at a press briefing yesterday, Garda Supt Frank O'Brien, who is leading the murder investigation, said gardaí were satisfied that the killing was not connected to Limerick's gangland feud.
"I can say quite categorically that we don't believe it was feud- related," said Supt O'Brien.
"He [ Mr Moran] had some criminal convictions but on the scale - and I don't want to minimise any kind of criminal activity - he would be on the lower end of the scale," he said.
Known to gardaí for minor offences, Mr Moran appeared before Limerick District Court just last Friday on theft-related charges.
It is understood the 26-year-old was a heroin addict and that his offences were carried out to feed his habit.
Speculation is rife among locals in the Southill area that his death was drugs-related and that the he may have been killed over a drugs debt.
"He had a heroin problem and we are hearing that he could have been murdered over a drugs debt," said one source.