The first search for the remains of one of the Disappeared, Seamus Maguire, is to begin in Co Armagh on Tuesday. Maguire, from Aghagallon, near Lurgan, went missing in the 1970s, but was not added to the list of the Disappeared until 2022.The lead investigator for the Independent Commission for the Location of Victims’ Remains (ICLVR), Eamonn Henry, said there was now “sufficient credible information” to begin a search in the Derryclone area. In a statement, the Maguire family described the missing man as “our much-loved eldest brother”, and said “our mum looked for Seamus right up until the day that she died.” They said “he has been missing now for over 50 years” and they hoped the ICLVR “can now recover Seamus’s body so that he can be buried in St Patrick’s graveyard in Aghagallon with our parents, May and Patrick”. A total of 17 people known as the Disappeared were abducted, murdered and secretly buried by republican paramilitaries during the North’s Troubles. The remains of four – Joe Lynskey, Columba McVeigh, Robert Nairac and Seamus Maguire – have yet to be recovered.It is the first search for one of the Disappeared in Northern Ireland since 2010, when the remains of Peter Wilson were recovered from a beach at Waterfoot in Cushendall, Co Antrim. A search last year for the remains of McVeigh at Bragan Bog in Co Monaghan ended without success, as did a 2024 search in Faughart, Co Louth, for Nairac.[ ‘Rather than rage, humanity’: James Nesbitt on working with families of the DisappearedOpens in new window ]The lead investigator said that, as with other Disappeared cases, “it was not immediately clear whether or not Seamus Maguire was a missing person case or was the victim of an abduction, murder and secret burial by a paramilitary group”.“The criteria for a case to be accepted by the commission are that the death and secret burial was as a result of paramilitary activity and was carried out before the signing of the Belfast/Good Friday Agreement on April 10th, 1998. “On the basis of information received from the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI), Seamus Maguire became one of the Disappeared in 2022.”Henry said it is believed republican paramilitaries were involved in his disappearance and murder, though it is not clear which wing of the IRA was responsible. “It was initially thought that Seamus disappeared sometime around 1973-1974 but it was also subsequently suggested that after spending time in Manchester he may have returned to Northern Ireland and was then killed and secretly buried in the Aghagallon/Derryclone area in 1976 aged 29,” he said.“Whatever the issues around specific dates, we are now satisfied that there is sufficient credible information to commence a search in the Derryclone area.” The search area is about two acres in size, the lead investigator said, explaining that “while unlike Bragan Bog, where we searched for the remains of Columba McVeigh, regrettably without success, farmland is more stable, each search site throws up its own challenges”.Declining to “put a specific time frame” on the search, he said that “as with all our searches we will be there until we find what we are looking for or are satisfied that Seamus Maguire is not there”. Henry appealed for anyone with information to come forward, saying that “there may be an assumption that because a search is under way the commission has all the information we need” and that is “not necessarily the case”.“If there is anyone who has any information on this case please get it to us. All information is treated in the strictest confidence and our sole purpose is to return the remains of a loved one to their family for a Christian burial,” he said. The Maguire family thanked the ICLVR and “all those involved in the search process” and made their own appeal to anyone who can help the ICLVR with any of the Disappeared cases to contact the commission on 00 353 1 602 8655, email secretary@iclvr.ie or write to PO Box 10827, Dublin 2.