A Leicester man who disappeared almost two years ago and is at the centre of a murder investigation has been named by police.

Twelve people were arrested on Tuesday (10) in connection with the murder of 60-year-old Gary Piatek. Nine remain in police custody.

Enquiries have determined that Mr Piatek was last seen in April 2024. There has been no proof of life of him since then.

A detailed search is being now being carried out at an address in Broad Street, Evington, and police say they expect search activity to remain ongoing at this address over the coming days and weeks. Searches include digging into the ground at the property.

Senior Investigating Officer, Detective Inspector Michael Chandler from the East Midlands Special Operations Unit, said: “We are continuing to establish the full circumstances of what has happened to Gary Piatek and as part of our ongoing enquiries, I am appealing to anyone who has any information in relation to him or in relation to what has happened to him to make contact with us.

“I will take this opportunity to reiterate that this is not a Counter Terrorism policing operation and there is no connection to Counter Terrorism.”

Six men, aged 61, 43, 34, 33, 25 and 21, and two women, aged 34 and 29, were arrested on suspicion of murder of Gary Piatek. A ninth person, a 50-year-old man was arrested on suspicion of assisting an offender. These remain in police custody.

Two men, aged 25 and 23, arrested on suspicion of murder, have been released under investigation while enquiries continue.  

A woman, aged 23, arrested for the same offence was released from custody on Wednesday (11) with no further action to be taken.

Anyone with any information is asked to submit this via 101, quoting incident number 221 of 9 February 2026.