Arrests made in bank robbery

7 men and women. Cork and Dublin. News to follow.

www.guardian.co.uk/Northern_Ireland/Story/0,2763,1416921,00.html

Belfast bank robbery

Staff and agencies
Thursday February 17, 2005

Several people were arrested in the Irish Republic today in connection with December's £26.5m bank raid in Northern Ireland, and it is understood more than £2m in sterling has been seized.
At least four people were arrested in a raid at a property near the city of Cork, in the south-west of the republic, by garda officers investigating the biggest bank robbery in UK history.

Garda confirmed that more than £60,000 was seized in the raid. It is understood however that a further £2m was recovered in operations in the Cork area, but officers would not officially link the bigger figure with December's robbery.

A spokeswoman for the Police Service of Northern Ireland said: "It is too early to say at this stage if any of the money found was connected to the Northern Bank robbery but both forces are in contact."

I want Bertie and Tony to lick my sack.

Here's the link to the RTE story

http://www.rte.ie/news/2005/0217/cork.html

Sure seems like it would be a bigger deal if the suspects were associated with Sinn Fein or the 'Ra. I see Trimble and Paisley are calling for the exclusion of SF again. Damn, I hate to see the peace process derailed over this.

its not like folks have never been wrongly convicted in this mess before. Blair just apologized to Conlon. I have zero faith in the justice system when it comes to the IRA.

SEVEN ARRESTED IN MONEY LAUNDERING INVESTIGATION
02/17/05 10:34 EST

Police in the Irish Republic have arrested seven people and
recovered a large amount of cash.


Over GBP£2m was seized during raids in the Cork area, more
than GBP£60,000 is believed to be in Northern Bank notes.


Irish police have not confirmed if the raids are connected
to the £26m robbery at the Northern Bank's headquarters in
Belfast on 20 December.


The IRA has been blamed by the British and Irish governments
for stealing the money. The IRA has denied this.


The arrests were made as part of an on-going investigation
into money-laundering.


Two men were arrested on Wednesday night in the Douglas and
Passage West areas of Cork and another three were also
detained in Dublin.


It is understood that two of three men arrested in Dublin
are from Derry.


A man and a woman were arrested in a follow-up operation in
the Farran area on the outskirts of the city on Thursday
morning.


An Irish police spokeswoman said the suspects are being
detained under Section 30 of the Offences Against the State Act.


Sinn Fein's Martin McGuiness said he was unaware of the
arrests and said he would make no comment on the matter
until he had more information.


He said there had been previous reports of Northern Bank
notes being found and those reports had been false.


The party's leadership has said they believe IRA denials
that it did not carry out the bank robbery.


Assistant Chief Constable Sam Kincaid, who has been in
charge of the Northern Bank investigation, was in Dublin on
Thursday for meetings with senior Garda officers.


It is understood the raid was high on the agenda for the
discussions.


A police spokesman in Northern Ireland said it was too early
to say whether or not the arrests are connected to the robbery.


"The PSNI is working closely with An Garda Siochana as we
have done since the start of the investigation," he added.
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