The Hindu : International : Row over bank robbery deepens

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Saturday, Feb 19, 2005

International

International

Row over bank robbery deepens

By Hasan Suroor

LONDON, FEB. 18. The political row over the sensational £26.5 million bank robbery in Northern Ireland on Christmas-eve has deepened after the Irish police on Thursday arrested two men believed to be members of Sinn Fein, the political wing of the Irish Republican Army (IRA) which has been officially blamed for the robbery.

The arrest of Sinn Fein activists, including an erstwhile parliamentary candidate, was seen as a blow to Sinn Fein leadership's claim that neither its members nor the IRA had anything to do with the robbery described as the biggest bank heist in the U.K. in recent times.

The two were among the seven arrested in connection with the Irish police investigations into a money laundering racket. Two million pounds, including £60,000 in notes from Northern Bank which was robbed on December 20, have been seized in raids in Dublin and Cork. Sinn Fein reacted cautiously saying it was not aware of the arrests and that previous reports of Republican involvement in the robbery had been proved false.

The Sinn Fein and IRA have strenuously denied police claims that Republicans were behind the robbery, though in a significant shift the Sinn Fein leader, Gerry Adams, said on Wednesday that "maybe I am wrong'' in believing IRA's denials.

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