A national missing persons agency has been notified following the mysterious find of human remains off the Angus coast.
A Kirkcaldy-registered fishing vessel made the grim discovery of an undisclosed body part while netting in the North Sea, around seven miles from Arbroath.
They announced the discovery by radio and were met at the town harbour by plain-clothes police from Tayside Division’s criminal investigations unit.
The detectives examined the object on board the vessel the KY19 Provider before taking it back to Dundee for further analysis.
Police have confirmed the object will be the subject of analysis, to determine how long it has been in the water, followed by a battery of DNA tests to attempt to determine the identity of the person to whom it belongs.
Due to the nature of the tidal systems on the east coast, it is believed the body part could have originated from anywhere in the UK, Scandinavia or the Low Countries.
Police have notified UK forces that may have ongoing missing person inquiries via the National Crime Agency UK Missing Persons Bureau.
A Tayside Division spokeswoman said: “There is a national Missing Persons Bureau, which we are liaising with over the remains that were found in the North Sea.
“Any of our findings will be reported through them to other forces which may have missing people inquiries.”
Tayside Division previously stated: “Following examination, the remains have been confirmed as human and further tests will be carried out to assist officers with their ongoing inquiries.”
A number of missing person cases are still open in the Angus area, including an Arbroath woman last seen in the cliffs area near the town a fortnight ago, Ian Mowatt from Arbroath, who has been missing since 2007, and 51-year-old Montrose woman Lorraine McRae, who was last seen last November.
Ludo Gonda, who stayed at Woodlea Caravan Park, was the subject of international police inquiries in the weeks and months after his disappearance in 2009.
Mr Gonda’s bicycle, fishing equipment and rucksack were discovered at the foot of Arbroath cliffs by a passerby and prompted a multi-agency search, which did not find the Slovakian national.
The National Crime Agency UK site at www.missingpersons.police.uk publicises information about unidentified people and remains, enlisting the public to help maximise the chances of identification.