CAB raid retirement home in money-laundering case

Criminal Assets Bureau officers raided a retirement home in Tullybeg, outside Tullamore, County Offaly, this morning, it emerged…

Criminal Assets Bureau officers raided a retirement home in Tullybeg, outside Tullamore, County Offaly, this morning, it emerged today.

It is believed the premises was partly owned the man released from custody earlier today but a garda spokesman was unable to give any further details of the operation.

Meanwhile, a man arrested late last night is still being questioned by police at Gurranabraher Station. The man, in his forties, was arrested after police received reports he had been burning sterling notes in his back garden in Passage West, County Cork.

Ealier today gardaí released without charge a financial adviser at whose house in Farran officers seized £2.3 million during an early-morning raid on Thursday.

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The 57-year-old Cork-based money lender and director of at least nine companies had been questioned along with three other people, who have also been released without charge.

A man arrested late last night is still being questioned by police at Gurranabraher Station. The man, in his forties, was arrested after police received reports he had been burning sterling notes in his back garden in Passage West, County Cork.

Meanwhile more searches are expected to be carried out in the coming days by gardai investigating the suspected IRA money-laundering operation.

Hundreds of officers have already conducted searches in Cork, Dublin, Louth and Offaly.

A Co Cork chef arrested during the investigation was charged yesterday with membership of an illegal organisation at the Special Criminal Court in Dublin.

The head of the Garda Special Branch, Det Chief Supt Philip Kelly, told the court that gardaí recovered £54,000 sterling in a washing powder box when Mr Don Bullman (30) of Fernwood Crescent, Leghanamore, Wilton, was arrested.

He added: "I suspected that the £54,000 was a money-laundering operation on behalf of the IRA."

Gardaí last night released without charge three people who had been arrested in Cork city on Wednesday and Thursday for questioning about money-laundering.

A man arrested in Douglas on Wednesday night and detained at Mayfield Garda Station was released while a former Sinn Féin public representative questioned at Togher Garda Station was also released without charge.

A woman who was arrested at a house in Farran in Mid-Cork on Thursday morning was released after being questioned by detectives at the Bridewell Garda Station in Cork city.

A Garda spokesman said gardaí would prepare a file on the matter for the Director of Public Prosecutions.

Police Service of Northern Ireland detectives involved in the Northern Bank robbery investigation arrived yesterday in Garda Headquarters to examine the £2.3 million seized in Farran.

However, the gardaí and PSNI cautioned against making a link between the bank robbery and this week's haul: "For now it is an investigation into money-laundering, not the Northern Bank," said one highly placed security source.