Bank staff still in custody in relation to Belfast heist

Detectives were today continuing to question two Northern Bank staff about the £26.5m (€39m) robbery in Belfast.

Chris Ward, 24, who was taken hostage during the heist last December, was arrested when police raided his home in Poleglass, in the west of the city.

A 22-year-old woman, believed to be a friend of Mr Ward, was also arrested at a separate address in the city.

They were detained at the Police Service of Northern Ireland’s Serious Crime Suite at Antrim, and can be held for 48 hours.

Mr Ward gave media interviews shortly after the raid describing how his home was taken over by a gang of gunman who threatened to kill him if he did not co-operate with the robbery.

Police chiefs on both sides of the Irish border have blamed the IRA for clearing the vaults at the Northern’s city centre HQ just before Christmas.

Earlier this month three men were charged by the team of detectives hunting the gang behind the biggest cash theft in British history – one with the actual robbery.