Technical team assist in hunt for missing Lithuanian

THE Garda Technical Bureau is being drafted in to assist with an investigation into a missing Lithuanian man who may have been murdered.

Raimundas Berzinskas, aged 33, was last seen by friends in Glanmire, Co Cork, on December 15, more than a month after he was charged with the manslaughter of a fellow Lithuanian in Cork city.

Gardaí cordoned off a large area of land at Blossom Grove, six kilometres east of Glanmire, Co Cork, early yesterday.

The area was combed by three garda sniffer dogs and one on loan from the PSNI, while members of the Garda Sub Aqua Unit also searched a nearby tributary of the Glashaboy River.

Garda search teams from Cork City and North and East Cork Divisions also assisted, and it is expected that a divisional search team from West Cork will join them today.

Searches were also carried out from Riverstown to Blossom Grove in case Berzinskas had returned that way later that night on the way back to his home at Proby’s Place in Cork city.

Gardaí said they know Berzinskas went to visit friends who were living in a mobile home in the Glanmire area on December 15 last.

They are said to have gone out and left him alone in the mobile home sometime later that evening.

He hasn’t been seen since and has not made any mobile phone calls, or any electronic banking transactions. Gardaí don’t believe he has left the country.

While officially saying they are still treating the case as that of a missing person, garda sources have indicated that they are concerned that Berzinskas may have been killed. Garda Technical Bureau officers will be asked to examine the mobile home and two cars today.

Berzinskas was charged with the killing of fellow Lithuanian Gintaras Balcionas, aged 38, at 1 Rockgrove Terrace, Lower Glanmire Road, Cork, on October 9 last.

Mr Balcionas’s body was found in the back garden. He had suffered severe injuries to the head and upper body.

Gardaí say they are anxious to hear from anybody who may have seen Berzinskas on or after December 15, especially in the Glanmire area.

He is described as being 6ft 2in tall and of strong build. He has shaved blonde hair and was last seen wearing a brown three-quarter length jacket with red trim, light blue jeans and white runners.

Anybody with information is asked to contact Cobh gardaí at [phone] or Anglesea Street garda station at [phone].