Heist may have been inside job, say police chiefs

POLICE chiefs have not ruled out the possibility that those behind one of the biggest bank raids in European history had someone working on the inside.

However, the gang that plundered over £20 million from the Belfast headquarters of the Northern Bank could be any of the dozens of highly organised criminal gangs which have mushroomed throughout the North since the IRA and loyalist ceasefires of 10 years ago.

Around 230 gangs are heavily involved in crimes such as armed robbery, drug trafficking, prostitution, extortion rackets and counterfeiting.