Sundaay Times
January 23, 2005
IRA arrests ‘soon’ on robbery
Liam Clarke
NORTHERN IRELAND’S police plan to arrest a number of IRA members as part of their investigation into the £26m Northern Bank robbery. Several raids are expected, with some along the border requiring the co-operation of gardai.
The British and Irish governments are convinced that the £26m (€37.5m) heist was carried out by the IRA because of a briefing from Hugh Orde, the PSNI chief constable, in which he gave the names of the suspects. Both the PSNI and gardai observed meetings between republicans they suspect planned the robbery and senior Sinn Fein figures, including Gerry Adams.
Security sources will not give details of these meetings, although they coincided with negotiations last month between the governments and Sinn Fein on a complete end to IRA activity. “It is reminiscent of the 1996 negotiations during which the Canary Wharf bombing was being planned,” one British source said.
The PSNI has studied reports from informants, tapes taken from listening devices and telephone taps that indicate IRA involvement. In a briefing, the chief constable said that intelligence gathered before the robbery gained new significance when viewed with the benefit of hindsight and left him in no doubt as to who was involved.
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/newspaper/0,,176-1452530,00.htmlCOMMANDER Hugh Orde has pledged that his career is on the line over this one...