Orde blames IRA over money plant

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BBC


It is too early to say if money seized in the Republic of Ireland on Thursday was stolen from the Northern Bank in Belfast, the chief constable has said.

Hugh Orde said he was convinced republicans planted £50,000 from the £26.5m raid in a police sports club.

There is speculation the robbers behind the raid may be trying to implicate the security forces in the crime.

Police discovered £50,000 in new Northern Bank notes at the Newforge Country Club in Belfast.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/northern_ireland/4281547.stm

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1. Robbers 'trying to deflect blame'

BBC


There is speculation that the robbers behind the £26.5m Northern Bank robbery may be trying to implicate the security forces in the crime.

Money discovered in a police sports club was stolen in the £26.5m Northern Bank robbery, detectives confirmed.

Police discovered £50,000 in new Northern Bank notes at the Newforge Country Club in Belfast.

Five shrink-wrapped packages each containing £10,000 were found in the club toilets on Friday.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/northern_ireland/4280713.stm

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2. Operation Daz’ starts garda swoop on IRA's dirty money

Sunday Times
Dearbhail McDonald



AT 3.20pm in Dublin’s Heuston station last Wednesday, Detective Sergeant Rory Corcoran stopped a passenger who had just got off the Cork train with an unusual package.

Their conversation was brief. No ordinary daytripper to the capital, Don Bullman, 30, a chef from Cork, was arrested after £54,000 (€78,000) of cash — stashed in a Daz washing powder box — was found in the back seat of the Northern Ireland-registered four-wheel drive he was about to get into.

Two men from Londonderry, who were already in the vehicle, were arrested along with Bullman, a married father of three. The two said they were planning to catch the 5pm train to Cork.

The encounter at Heuston station was no fluke. Bullman, a former electoral worker and fundraiser for Sinn Fein, had been the subject of garda surveillance for months. His arrest sparked a spectacular sequence of events, one of the largest garda operations in years.
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/newspaper/0,,176-1491794,00.html

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3. Terror alert in hunt for IRA cash: Observer

Terror alert in hunt for IRA cash

Henry McDonald, Ireland editor
Sunday February 20, 2005
The Observer

Police and military across Northern Ireland have been put on high alert against a terrorist attack as the peace process plunged deeper into crisis over the widening investigation into IRA money laundering and robberies and the involvement of Sinn Fein.

As Irish police recovered millions of pounds of bank notes from the pre-Christmas raid on Northern Bank - Europe's biggest bank robbery - The Observer has learnt that the most serious security warning since the breakdown of the 1996 ceasefire has been issued to the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI).

'Every serving officer has been told to take their weapons everywhere they go, even off duty,' a senior detective said. The warnings come just one week after the Army put troops on stand-by for a booby trap attack.

It is unclear if any attacks would constitute a breach of the Provisional IRA ceasefire or instead come from one of the two main republican dissident groups. Detectives claim that in parts of Northern Ireland, such as North Antrim and South Derry, there has been an 'overlapping relationship'.

http://observer.guardian.co.uk/uk_news/story/0,6903,1418616,00.html