Gardai investigating man who vanished from Dublin hotel arrive in Iceland
Five gardai have arrived in Iceland to conduct interviews in connection with the probe into the disappearance of Jon Jonsson in Dublin six years ago.
The Icelandic man vanished from outside the Bonnington Hotel in Whitehall in February 2019.
As part of renewed cooperation between Icelandic and Irish authorities, Gardai, assisted by 10 Icelandic police officers, will conduct interviews with 45 people in the coming days, RUV reports.
Jón Jónsson went missing in Ireland in 2019
News in 90 Seconds - June 24th
The development came after representatives from each police force met with Europol in The Hague last month.
Icelandic police are set to assist the Gardai with translation.
"We have contacted most of the people on the list that the Irish police sent us, and people have responded very well to it and plan to come here to us and give a report,' Eiríkur Valberg, a police officer at the Central Investigation Department of the Metropolitan Police, said.
Valberg said he hopes the interviews will shed new light on the case.
"Of course we hope so, but we don't know in advance what will happen, but we wouldn't be putting in these big efforts if we didn't think they could be successful."
Jon's disappearance was subject of a podcast series 'Where is Jon?' produced in collaboration with RTE and Icelandic news service RUV.
In the final episode, Gardai discussed two anonymous letters they received a year apart, which suggest that Jon is buried in a park approximately 3.5km from where he vanished.
A search of the area in February yielded no results, and Gardai have appealed for the author of the letters to come forward.
Garda cordon off an area during their search for Jon Jonsson from Iceland,
'During the course of the investigation, the investigation team has received two items of anonymous correspondence, the contents of which have been assessed,' a spokesperson for An Garda Siochana said.
'The Garda investigation team are appealing to the author of those correspondences to make direct contact with them. Any contact will be dealt with in the strictest of confidence.
'Anyone with information in relation to Mr Jonsson's disappearance or who can assist in locating him is asked to contact Ballymun Garda Station on 01 6664400, the Garda Confidential Line on 1800 666 111, or any Garda station.'
Jon Jonsson, who was 41 at the time of his disappearance, was last seen after leaving the Bonnington Hotel on the Swords Road in Whitehall at approximately 11am on Saturday February 9th 2019.
The father-of-four arrived in Ireland the day prior for a poker tournament.
He was last seen on CCTV few minutes later walking past the entrance to Highfield Hospital, walking towards Collins Avenue.
Described as 6'3' tall, weighing 13 stone 7, he has short brown hair, and when last seen wearing a black jacket, blue t-shirt, black jeans and dark runners.
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