By Sean O' Driscoll

A search for gangster Whitey Bulger in an Irish bar in Cambodia has proved fruitless, the FBI have confirmed.

The bureau has also been searching for Bulger in Uruguay, while recent reports of Bulger robbing banks in California have been largely discounted.

The FBI’s Cambodia trip came amid renewed speculation about Bulger after it was revealed that 100 FBI agents have visited five continents in the last year in search of Bulger.

The former leader of south Boston’s Winter Hill Gang went on the run in 1995, just before he was about to be indicted on 19 murder charges.

Kenneth Kaiser, the special agent managing the Bulger investigation, told the Boston Globe that two agents had visited an Irish bar in Cambodia after a man matching Bulger’s description was seen there. However, the case turned out to be one of mistaken identity.

He said that the Uruguay tip was just one of three tips in the last year that have proved fruitless. An elderly man recently held up banks in California, but police now believe it was not Bulger.

The problem with the search may be twofold. First, the million dollar reward on Bulger’s head is attracting speculative calls from people hoping to cash in, while Bulger’s appearance is much the same as many 75-year-old white males.

However, the FBI are still very eager to catch Bulger, who reigned over a massive criminal empire, ran guns for the IRA and had corrupt FBI agents working for him.

The Boston field office is hoping that its exhaustive search for Bulger will help clear its name after one of its agents, James Connolly, was jailed for 10 years for tipping off Bulger that it was time to escape.

It was revealed two years ago that Bulger had been in Ireland since he went on the run, and had a passport and U.K. currency stashed in a Dublin bank vault.

However, Dublin may be too obvious a place for Bulger to hide, as his Irish American gang had many ties to Ireland.

He’s believed to be on the run with his girlfriend, Catherine Greig, 54, formerly of South Boston.