TWO men are being quizzed today on suspicion of murder after their friend plunged to his death into a quarry.

The unnamed 36 and 48-year-olds, both of Cwmbran, were arrested after a body was found 65ft down a quarry at Woodcroft, Tutshill, near Chepstow.

The pair called police in the early hours of yesterday morning. Detectives discovered the body of a 40-year-old, also from Cwmbran and took his two friends to Gloucester police station for questioning.

Detective Chief Inspector Neil Kelly, from Gloucestershire Police, who is leading the inquiry, said he was "not happy" with the version of events the friends gave to officers.

"We are interviewing his friends and examining both the spot where he was found and the place he fell from," he said.

"The reason the two men in custody have been arrested on suspicion of murder is that we are not happy with what we have been told regarding how the man came to fall off the cliff.

"We still don't know what they were doing up there." The body was found among vegetation and had to be recovered by equipment. A post mortem examination was carried out yesterday afternoon.

The dead man has not yet been formally identified by relatives, police said this morning.

Gloucester Fire and Rescue Service dropped a rope over the cliff edge and sent down a six-man team to recover the body.

Gwent and Gloucestershire police officers and the Severn Area Rescue Association assisted the search.

The body was located at 5.20am but not brought up until around 1.30pm after Home Office pathologist Andrew Davison had examined the scene. The investigation has centred around the cliff edge, the quarry and a phone box at Chepstow bus station.

A forensic team taped off the call box at 10.30am yesterday. Detective Constable Mike Roy, from Gwent Police, said: "A team has been making sure we pick up any evidential material that may have been left there."

A police helicopter also took photographs from overhead. The body was taken to Gloucester Royal Hospital.

DCI Kelly added: "All our activity is designed to help establish exactly what happened here and how the deceased met his death."

A local woman resident said: "During the summer we get a lot of accidents with people climbing on the cliffs here. "But you don't normally have people walking along there in the night. It's not a route that would take you anywhere."