Reports obtained from:
(1) Irish Republican News, (2) Irish Echo Newspaper
Thursday - Wednesday, 23-29 December, 2004
Wednesday, 29 December, 2004 - Tuesday, 4 January, 2005
Thursday - Wednesday, 23-29 December, 2004
Raiders had police tip-off
PSNI mount bogus searches for heist gang
By Irish Republican News
A gang who carried out one of the largest bank robberies in history appear to have been tipped off that a PSNI police foot patrol was on its way to the bank.
Amid conflicting theories over who was involved, the peace process has already suffered from the fallout over the landmark 30 million Euro robbery (40 million dollars) heist at the Northern Bank in Belfast city centre.
The extraordinary amount of cash involved and the ease with which it was removed clearly point to the gang having high-level access to banking and security protocols.
But attention has focussed on the bizarre response by the PSNI to the theft.
The PSNI had been warned by traffic wardens on the Monday before Christmas that there was unusual activity at the bank.
But after spending hours emptying the vaults of the bank of its gigantic cash hoard, the thieves were able to rush away just moments before the patrol arrived.
Wads of notes were spilled as the gang made its escape with the loot -- but the PSNI team, arriving moments later, reported nothing amiss.
The revelation has increased speculation in republican areas that members of the British Crown forces were involved.
BOGUS SEARCHES
Sources in the Provisional IRA denied early allegations that it was involved. Nevertheless, the PSNI mounted raids on the homes of republicans on Christmas Eve, opening Christmas gifts in an apparently bogus attempt to find the cash.
The two-hour raid, during which detectives and forensic teams moved shoes and mobile phones and opened dozens of Christmas presents, infuriated republicans.
Sinn Fein president Gerry Adams said that it had been "an orchestrated event by 'securocrats' in the British system intent on wrecking the peace process".
Members of the British media were present as the raids took place. Sky television news provided live reports from Ardoyne, where the home of prominent republican Eddie Copeland was searched.
Adams has now complained to British Direct Ruler Paul Murphy about the raids, while Copeland has said he will make an official complaint to his lawyer.
Adams said: "Journalists were tipped off in advance of the raids taking place in order to maximise the negative media spin surrounding them.
"There is widespread anger among nationalists and republicans at [these] events. The objective of those who ordered these raids, and the heavy-handed and aggressive manner in which they were carried out, is deliberately intended to further de-stabilise the political situation."
Copeland, a predictable 'usual suspect' in the eyes of the PSNI, was in bed when raid began on Christmas Eve. He said: "They deliberately targeted me because they know I'm a republican in the area. There's no reason why they should come here, no reason at all.
"They took all my shoes away, including those I'd had for Christmas. All they left me was a pair of slip-ons. They opened all the Christmas presents as well. They just peered in and put them back again, but it was a serious invasion of my privacy."
The PSNI search of another house in Ballymurphy, west Belfast, provoked a mini-riot, with a crowd of up to 100 people throwing stones, bottles and other missiles at police landrovers.
Wednesday, 29 December, 2004 - Tuesday, 4 January, 2005
In robbery's wake, police raids rankle nationalists
By Anne Cadwallader
BELFAST -- The peace process could be heading into freefall if last week's huge bank robbery in Belfast is tied by investigators to the IRA. Police raided nationalist homes in the wake of the $39 million robbery prompting a furious response from residents.
Five PSNI officers were injured in the Ballymurphy estate in West Belfast when residents bombarded them with various missiles during the raids.
And police raided the home of a prominent republican on Christmas Eve. During the two-hour search of the home of Eddie Copeland, officers opened all the presents under the Christmas tree.
No one criminal group or paramilitary organization has yet been linked by investigators to the Dec. 19-20 raid on the Northern Bank headquarters during which the families of two bank employees were held hostage.
But despite a statement of denial of involvement from the Provisional IRA, the investigation appeared to be leaning in the direction of the Provos.
And this has unionists ready to bolt.
The Democratic Unionist Party has already make it clear that the implications would be "lethal" for chances of reviving devolution and sharing power with republicans.
Sinn Féin, meanwhile, has accused the police of pointing the finger at the IRA in order to damage the peace process.
The IRA denial was short but categorical: "We are dismissing any suggestion or allegation that we were involved," the unsigned statement said.
Sinn Féin's president, Gerry Adams, has protested to the British government over the raids in nationalist areas of north and west Belfast.
"This is a clearly orchestrated effort by the securocrats in the British system who are intent on wrecking the peace process," he said.
"Journalists were tipped off in advance of the raids taking place in order to maximize the negative media spin surrounding them. There is widespread anger among nationalists and republicans at events."
Sinn Fein's assembly member for North Belfast, Kathy Stanton, said the raids were "a Christmas message to the republican community." She said the police had "damaged homes and vandalized children's Christmas presents.
"All of this follows a pattern only too familiar to those of us who have experienced this sort of operation over the past 30 years," she said.
If carried out by the IRA, the robbery would not, technically, be a breach of the IRA cease-fire, which called a halt only to "military operations." But that will not have much relevance against the certain political fallout.
Unionists, as well as the British and Irish governments, will see it as evidence of bad faith on the part of republicans.
At the moment, all the evidence is purely circumstantial that the IRA was involved. Political and police sources are apparently pointing the finger at the IRA because of the clinical efficiency with which the robbery was executed. They are saying that no other group has the capacity to plan and carry out such an operation.
The DUP deputy leader, Peter Robinson, said that there would be "blindingly obvious consequences" if the IRA was to blame.
"If the speculation emerges as the reality, it would deliver a lethal blow to Sinn Féin hopes of being accepted as suitable for government in Northern Ireland," he said.
"If the IRA is guilty, it would unquestionably have required IRA Army Council sanction", he added, claiming that leading Sinn Féin figures are members of the Army Council.
Robinson demanded that the police show "unconditional candor" about the outcome of their investigation and said the DUP would "want frankness about the connections of any and all believed to be involved."
Should the IRA be held responsible, he said, people would see how correct the DUP were to demand absolute certainty on decommissioning "and a testing period to gauge whether all paramilitary and illegal activity has ended."
Fred Cobain of the Ulster Unionists said that hostage robberies were "a modus operandi paramilitaries have employed in the past and if there proves to be such a connection here, it will have huge repercussions."
The SDLP deputy leader, Alasdair McDonnell, said people would find it hard to believe, based on experience, that the robbery was carried out without paramilitary involvement at some level.
"People are very worried that we have a Mafia culture spiraling out of control", he said, "with huge robberies and families held hostage in the most traumatic of circumstances.
"It is too early to say who is responsible, but what is clear is that paramilitaries have carried this sort of raid out before," he said.
Eddie Copeland, meanwhile, said that during the raid on his home, police took away shoes and cell phones and also opened and examined Christmas presents.
"They deliberately targeted me because they know I'm a republican in the area. There's no reason why they should come here, no reason at all," Copeland said after the raid.
In the aftermath of the bank heist, which entered the record books as one of the biggest ever, the Northern Bank said it was considering withdrawing all of its bank notes from circulation and replacing them with new ones.
Banks in Northern Ireland are allowed to circulate their own sterling notes, which are distinct in appearance from those issued by the Bank of England.
All the money taken in the robbery was in Northern Bank denominations. Withdrawing the stolen notes from circulation, canceling their legal tender status and replacing them with new notes will be hugely expensive for the Northern Bank. But such a move, it is felt, will make it more difficult for the raiders to launder their haul.
Copyright © 2005 Irish Echo Newspaper Corp.