Police searching a patch of land near Milltown Cemetery in west Belfast will today continue their investigations in the area.

Police launched the search in a small field at the edge of the Bog Meadows nature reserve after an unusual image was found during survey work to locate graves that lie outside the cemetery boundary. It is believed they are searching for human remains.

Screening was erected as forensic teams moved in and police sniffer dogs were believed to have been deployed as part of the search. However, a police spokeswoman said last night that nothing had been removed from the scene and that no excavation or digging work had been carried out. It had earlier been reported that clothing had been discovered.

The PSNI launched its investigation after |archaeologists from Queen's University Belfast |unearthed an “anomalous image” during surveys of graves on a stretch of land in the Bog Meadows that once lay within the boundary of the cemetery.

Hundreds of babies and adults are believed to have been buried on a stretch of land whose ownership was transferred from Milltown Cemetery to the Ulster Wildlife Trust in 2001. A PSNI spokesman cautioned against speculation following newspaper reports that the find could be linked to the disappearance of two schoolboys 30 years ago.