London maintains SF sanctions – ISN
February 23rd, 2005
Simon Roughneen in Derry
N.Ireland Secretary of State Paul Murphy told the British House of Commons on Tuesday that he would extend sanctions against Sinn Féin, the political party linked to the Irish Republican Army (IRA), for a year. Murphy said Sinn Féin’s Northern Ireland Assembly grant, worth some £120’000 (about €173’000), would be suspended for an additional 12 months. The decision comes in the wake of the latest report from the Independent Monitoring Commission (IMC) accusing the IRA of being behind the theft of €38 million from a Belfast bank in December. (more…)
More cash found in IRA laundering probe – ISN
February 21st, 2005
- links to Bulgarian mafia groups examined
DERRY – Police in the Irish Republic recovered €634’000 in British sterling notes on Sunday night in a series of raids in the south, the midlands, and Dublin areas of the country. These are the latest discoveries in an ongoing investigation into money laundering by the Irish Republican Army (IRA).
Tests are being carried out to determine whether any of the cash is part of the €38 million taken from a Belfast bank on 20 December. The Irish and British governments claim that the IRA stole the money. Each raid uncovers a series of new money trails, and it is believed that the current operation will go on for months. (more…)
Seven held in IRA laundering probe – ISN
February 18th, 2005
DERRY – Police in the Irish Republic have arrested seven people as part of an investigation into Irish Republican Army (IRA) money-laundering.
Euro and sterling notes worth a total of €3.6 million were seized in Dublin and Cork, and further police raids were ongoing areas in the midlands and east of the country. One single raid on Thursday morning recovered £2 million (nearly €2.9 million) from a house in rural Cork. Senior detectives from Northern Ireland’s police were in Dublin on Friday for a special security summit with their counterparts in the Republic.
Police believe that some or all of the cash was part of the €38 million taken in the Northern Bank robbery committed in Belfast in late December. It has been confirmed that Northern Bank notes make up some of the cash seized. The robbery was generally attributed to the IRA, and one of those arrested in Cork was a Sinn Féin candidate in the Irish general election in 2002. (more…)
Sinn Féin leader dares govt to arrest him – ISN
February 11th, 2005
DERRY – The Independent Monitoring Commission set up by the Irish and British governments released a report on Thursday, saying that senior Sinn Féin members had advance knowledge of the theft, allegedly by the IRA, of some €31 million from a Belfast bank in December.
Sinn Féin is said to be the political wing of the Irish Republican Army. Both governments have endorsed the findings. In Dublin, Irish Justice Minister Michael McDowell said some of the politicians implicated in the report were household names, but the report did not name anyone directly.
Sinn Féin President Gerry Adams responded by challenging the Irish government to either have him arrested or cease what he termed “unsubstantiated allegations”. (more…)
Irishman faces Omagh bomb charges – ISN
February 9th, 2005
DERRY – A 34-year-old man from the Irish Republic will appear in court on Wednesday to faces charges that he provided the getaway car used in the August 1998 Omagh bombing that killed 29 people and injured hundreds of others. It was the single greatest loss of life in Northern Ireland’s 30-year conflict.
No one has been convicted in connection with the bombing. Last month, the Dublin Supreme Court overturned one of the suspects’ convictions, and he is now awaiting a retrial. (more…)
IRA withdraws offer to disarm – ISN
February 3rd, 2005
- spins ‘return to war’ rumours
DERRY- The Irish Republican Army (IRA) announced on Thursday that it would withdraw the offer to allow its weapons to be destroyed and to end activities that might endanger the 1998 peace agreement. “We are taking our proposals off the table,” the group in a statement issued through the IRA newspaper, An Phoblacht.
The announcement follows weeks of turmoil after a power-sharing deal offered by the British and Irish governments in December fell through due to disagreement over how to verify the destruction of IRA weaponry. The crisis deepened with the December robbery of a Belfast bank, in which €31.3 million was stolen. Both governments, backed by police and intelligence experts, have stated publicly that they believe the IRA carried out the raid. (more…)
Police chief to quit if wrong about heist – ISN
January 21st, 2005
DERRY – The head of Northern Ireland’s police on Thursday vowed to resign if it turned out that he was wrong in his accusations that the Irish Republican Army (IRA) was behind the theft of £26.5 million (€38 million) from a Belfast bank in December. Hugh Orde, Chief Constable of the Police Service for Northern Ireland (PSNI), stated publicly on 7 January that he believed that the IRA had carried out the robbery.
On Monday, the IRA proclaimed its innocence, after Sinn Féin, the political party linked to the IRA, had described the allegations as a conspiracy to undermine the peace process. (more…)
Political crisis deepens as IRA denies robbery – ISN
January 19th, 2005
DERRY – In its first official statement since the head of Northern Ireland’s police accused them of stealing £26.5 million (nearly €38 million) from a Belfast bank, the Irish Republican Army (IRA) last night denied that it took the money.
The comes amid a growing political crisis in Northern Ireland. The failure by Sinn Féin, the party linked to the IRA, and the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP), to forge a deal to restore the devolved government to Belfast has been compounded by the widespread belief that the IRA planned the heist, which is thought to be the largest in European history. (more…)
Robbery blamed on IRA, could derail talks – ISN
January 10th, 2005
DERRY -Politicians and the public in Ireland and the UK have spent the weekend coming to terms with accusations that the Irish Republican Army (IRA) was responsible for a massive Belfast bank robbery on 20 December 2004.
Last Friday afternoon, Hugh Orde, Chief Constable of the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI), stated that he thought that “[…] the Provisional IRA were responsible for this crime and all main lines of inquiry currently undertaken are in that direction’.
Orde was speaking after meeting key members of Northern Ireland’s policing board. Martin McGuinness, Chief Negotiator for Sinn Féin, the political party linked to the IRA, reacted to Orde’s comments by telling press that the IRA had told him that the group had not conducted the robbery, and that these comments were part of a politically-motivated campaign to undermine Sinn Féin and the peace process. (more…)
Police probe IRA robbery link – ISN
December 22nd, 2004
DERRY – Over £20 million (nearly €29 million) was stolen on Monday from a Belfast bank headquarters, in what was one of the largest robberies ever carried out in Ireland or Britain.
Sam Kincaid, Assistant Chief Constable of the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI), said the robbery “was a well-organized crime”, and “could be paramilitary-related”. Former Special Branch police chief in Northern Ireland, Bill Lowry, told the pro-Unionist daily Newsletter that the Provisional IRA was the most likely suspect. (more…)
