Some of the drugs seized from Robert Wilkin’s lorry in 2021 hidden in cargo of chocolates
The body was recovered after a week long search at 4am on Monday morning last.
The victim is thought to be Robert Wilkin, aged in his mid-60s and from Co Tyrone, who is reported missing and is known to police.
He was understood to be in the company of two people who were arrested on suspicion of being involved in a serious assault.
The pair, a man in his 30s and a woman in her 20s, were released without charged after bieing questioned by Gardai for two days.
There is expected to be further arrests once the post-mortem and identification is completed.
The victim, understood to be Mr Wilkin, was arrested at a port in England in 2021, while his fingerprints and DNA were stored on the police and NCA database.
This will now be used to help identify the remains of the victim, which were taken to Letterkenny University Hospital.
In August 2021, Mr Wilkin, who had been living in Tilbury in Essex at the time, was questioned by officers from the NCA after the lorry he was driving was stopped at the Coquelles Channel Tunnel terminal.
The vehicle, which was registered in Poland, had been carrying a load of Belgian chocolates which were to be delivered to a location in Maidstone, Kent.
During a search of the lorry, Border Force officers found tape-wrapped packages of drugs hidden in two pallets of the chocolates.
In total, 63 kilos of heroin and 32 kilos of cocaine were seized.
Officers from the NCA later charged Wilkin with attempting to import a class A drug.
He appeared at Folkestone Magistrates Court on August 14, 2021, and was released on bail.
NCA Branch Commander Martin Grace said at the time: “This was a significant seizure of class A drugs.
“Working with our law enforcement partners, such as Border Force, we are determined to do all we can to disrupt and dismantle the organised crime groups involved in bringing these drugs to the UK.”
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