Gang may be forced to dump £13m

THE gang behind the £22 million (€32m) Northern Bank heist may be forced to dump more than half the cash, it emerged last night.

Police chiefs hunting the robbers revealed that at least £13m (€19m) of the missing money is made up of new notes.

Money laundering experts in Britain believe it will be virtually impossible to shift the cash without raising suspicions.

With police refusing to rule out republican or loyalist paramilitary involvement in the raid, expert Jeffrey Robinson said: "If they are smart they will take the US dollars and euro that are there and burn the rest."

Detectives revealed that £12m in new Northern Bank £10 and £20 notes, and over £1m worth of £100 and £50 notes were among the stolen cash. The detectives say they also have access to the notes' serial numbers.

Detectives said there was considerable pre-planning in advance of the raid on a cash distribution centre in the basement of Northern Bank headquarters.

Superintendent Andy Sproule, who is heading a team of 45 detectives, said: "This was a carefully planned operation by professional criminals who obviously had done their homework."

It has also been revealed:

* The gang posed as police officers when they held the families of two bank employees hostage for over 24 hours.

* Security arrangements at the basement cash distribution centre are under close scrutiny.

*The bank has admitted it had no external insurance cover and its Australian owners will have to bear the cost of the £22m loss.

Detectives are trawling through hundreds of hours of CCTV videotapes in the hunt for the robbers.

Even though police do not know where the stolen cash is located, Mr Robinson, author of The Money Launderer, insisted they had taken too much in the wrong currency.

"They obviously did not count on there being so much money, and Northern Irish notes," he told ITV News. "The money is fundamentally useless. I suspect they know that by now."

With the IRA among several terrorist organisations still under suspicion, detectives are studying details of other military-style raids in a bid to identify the men behind the spectacular heist.

Supt Sproule said: "An active line of inquiry is in relation to previous incidents where professional robbery gangs have been involved in the Greater Belfast area."

If police establish a definite link with the IRA it will have a devastating impact on the future of the Northern Ireland peace process and effectively end any lingering hopes of Sinn Féin being part of a restored power-sharing Executive.

Police are also considering that a highly organised criminal outfit with no paramilitary connections may have masterminded Britain's biggest ever cash robbery.

The gang, of at least 20 men, took the families of two bank staff hostage on Sunday night.

Three masked men snatched a bank worker from his home in Poleglass, west Belfast, in front of his terrified parents, brother and brother's girlfriend.

He was driven to his supervisor Kevin McMullan's home in Loughinisland, Co Down. The raiders posed as police officers to gain entry, telling Mr McMullan and his wife Karen a relative had been killed in a car crash.

Ms McMullan was driven to an unknown location and held overnight. Late on Monday night, the distraught woman went to a house and raised the alarm.

The two terrified bank employees went into work at around noon on Monday with warnings their loved ones would be killed if they did not act as normal. As the audacious raid began at the close of business, one of the pair left the premises on Donegall Square West with a holdall containing over £1 million.

"Could that have been used as a dry run to see if police had been informed?" Supt Sproule said.

Between 6pm and 8.15pm, the underground vaults were plundered.

'Everyone at Northern is shocked at what happened'

THIS is the statement of Don Price, chief executive of Northern Bank:

"Everyone at Northern is shocked at what happened at our Cash Centre on Monday evening. Our main concern is for the staff involved. It is difficult to imagine the ordeal that they have been through. We are working with the police to help provide them with the support and any counselling that our people need. We will do everything possible to help them through the trauma they have suffered.

"We would ask the media to respect their privacy at this time.

"The Bank has now completed its audit of the losses at the Cash Centre. We can confirm that approximately £20 million (€28.6m) has been taken.

"During the past few days bank staff have worked tirelessly to ensure that normal services have been maintained to customers at a very difficult time. Our people have done a magnificent job and I would like to pay tribute to them. Security, both of our premises and our people, is and always has been a prime consideration for the Bank. We are continuing to work closely with the police."