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7 arrests after Belfast bank heist
Police said they arrested seven people, including an official from the IRA-linked Sinn Fein party, and seized millions in cash Thursday suspected stolen two months ago from a Belfast bank, a crime that badly damaged Northern Ireland's peace process. Police raided a property near the southwest city of Cork, arrested three men and a woman, and recovered a reported £2 million ($3.8 million). They could not immediately confirm whether the money matched records of the notes stolen from the Northern Bank in Belfast.

Earlier, police said they raided another property in Dublin, where they arrested three men and seized at least £60,000. They also could not confirm whether this was money stolen from the bank, but confirmed that some of the money was in the Northern Ireland's own brand. The two connected raids, police said, were targeting suspected money-laundering operations of the outlawed Irish Republican Army. The seizures and arrests may represent the first major breakthrough in months of police work to identify the gang responsible for stealing £26.5 million robbery from the Northern Bank on December 20 -- the biggest cash theft in history.
Well, there went the IRA's IRA.
Police chiefs in both parts of Ireland have blamed the outlawed IRA, but until now have failed to recover any of the cash or charge anyone in connection with the robbery. Police, in keeping with usual practice, refused to identify any of the arrested people by name. Under powers of Ireland's Offenses Against the State Act, all seven can be interrogated without charge until Friday night or Saturday morning. Sinn Fein declined immediate comment. The party previously has stressed it believes IRA denials of involvement in the robbery.
Posted by: Steve 2005-02-17
http://www.rantburg.com/poparticle.php?ID=56725