Building contractor charged over Northern Bank heist

A MAN was last night charged with the Northern Bank robbery in Belfast. The 23-year-old man was also accused of taking a husband and wife hostage and possession of a gun or imitation firearm during the heist last December.

A 25-year-old man who was arrested by detectives investigating the robbery was later released unconditionally, police said. Three men were still being questioned over the raid.

Building contractor Dominic McEvoy, of Kilcoo, Co Down, is due to appear at Belfast Magistrates’ Court this morning.

Police held him at his Mullandra Park home on Tuesday. He is accused of the false imprisonment of Kevin McMullan, a supervisor at the bank, and his wife Karen. Gang members took over their home at Loughinisland, Co Down during the robbery just before Christmas.

While Mr McMullan and a colleague, Chris Ward, were ordered to go into work, both their families were held hostage.

Mrs McMullan was taken from her house and later released near Drumkeeragh Forest Park, between Castlewellan and Ballynahinch, Co Down.

The suspect is also charged with robbery and possession of a firearm.

Earlier yesterday a top republican was held during another series of raids on homes in Co Tyrone.

Brian Arthurs, 40, was arrested in Dungannon while a 43-year-old suspect was detained in Coalisland.

Arthurs, whose brother Declan was among an eight-man IRA unit wiped out in an SAS ambush 18 years ago, is understood to be a member of Sinn Féin.

Police on both sides of the border blamed the IRA for clearing the vaults at the Northern’s Belfast city centre HQ last December.

Republicans and Arthurs’s wife Paula were incensed that the father of three was suspected of involvement.

“This is all a political exercise, this is to humiliate republicans again,” Mrs Arthurs said.

But the North’s Chief Constable Hugh Orde insisted the arrests were a deeply significant part of the investigation and hoped that more would follow.

“This is not over yet,” he said. “Just because people have been arrested today does not mean the investigation is closing down.

Police believe up to 30 men planned the robbery.

Cash seized in Co Cork last February was linked to the raid, but virtually all the missing £26.5 million (€39 million) is unrecovered.

Meanwhile, Justice Minister Michael McDowell yesterday insisted the “inability” of Republicans to tell the truth was a major obstacle to Irish unity.

Responding to a Sinn Féin Dáil motion calling for a policy paper to map out how a united Ireland could be created, Mr McDowell said trust could not be built with unionists unless a new era of honesty emerged over IRA involvement in the Northern Bank robbery and the killing of Detective Garda Jerry McCabe.

Labour Party leader Pat Rabbitte accused Sinn Fein of failing to deliver on decommissioning.

Sinn Féin TD Arthur Morgan challenged Fianna Fáil grassroots to ask if their party represented their aspirations for a united Ireland.

The Sinn Fein motion was lost in favour of a Government amendment which Sinn Fein said showed Fianna Fáil was running away from a debate on unity.