The €20m Belfast bank heist

PARAMILITARY involvement in the £20 million heist in Belfast would have serious ramifications for the North's peace process, Justice Minister Michael McDowell said yesterday.

A gang who pulled off the spectacular raid - one of the biggest in European banking history - may have been working on inside intelligence.

Detectives hunting the team behind the heist believe they could have had access to vital security codes at the Northern Bank's headquarters in Belfast. Underground vaults were cleared in two-and-a-half hours, after the families of two kidnapped managers were held hostage.