Bank raid police search commercial premises
Detectives investigating the £22m (€31m) bank raid in the North have carried out searches of commercial premises in west Belfast, it was confirmed today.
The searches took place yesterday at the Blackstaff complex on the Springfield Road.
A police spokeswoman said nothing was recovered in connection with last week’s robbery at the Northern Bank in the centre of Belfast.
A number of DVDs were seized during the police operation, but they had no relation to the bank heist.
The spokeswoman added: “Police will continue to pursue every possible line of inquiry in this investigation.”
Meanwhile, the two families taken hostage by the gang behind the raid were able to return to their homes yesterday, following a police forensic examination.
Houses belonging to 24-year-old Chris Ward, in the Poleglass area of west Belfast, and Kevin McMullan, in Loughinisland, Co Down, had been preserved as crime scenes since last Monday when details of the raid on the vaults of the Northern Bank in Belfast city centre first emerged.
Mr Ward and the McMullan family had to spend Christmas away from their homes while the houses were dusted down for clues about the gang who held them hostage and carried out the audacious robbery.
Police are still hunting for a handgun and ammunition which was stolen from a police Land Rover on Christmas Eve during searches of republican homes. They were stolen from the vehicle in Cavendish Street, off the Falls Road area of west Belfast.
The police raids on republican homes followed a denial by the IRA that its members were involved.
Sinn Féin president Gerry Adams has complained to the British government about the police investigators’ actions.
