'Suspicious' men were reported before NI raid

Police were told about men acting suspiciously outside the Northern Bank in Belfast during the robbery in which a gang got away with £22m (€31.4m), it was revealed today.

A traffic warden informed police of a white van parked in a side street beside the bank and of two men acting suspiciously.

The PSNI confirmed today they had received the report and that it had been “acted on”. However, a spokeswoman said it was not confirmed the white van spotted by the warden was the same white box van – registration RCZ 6632 – used by the gang in the audacious robbery.

Meanwhile, police and bank officials were today preparing to circulate the serial numbers of new Northern Bank notes taken in the raid. It should make the money virtually useless to the gang.

Detectives involved in the hunt for the robbers are probing possible paramilitary links to the gang who pulled off the biggest bank robbery in history.

Police have refused to rule out republican or loyalist paramilitary involvement in the carefully- planned raid.

They are understood to have identified five gangs capable of carrying out such a robbery – two criminal and three paramilitary.

Detectives are studying details of other military-style raids in a bid to identify the men behind the spectacular heist.