Cash came from bank raid in NI, says Garda

The Garda Commissioner believes that the £5 million accounted for in the Republic this year is part of the takings from the Northern Bank raid in Belfast in December.

When asked yesterday if he was satisfied that the money recovered was the proceeds of the IRA robbery, Commissioner Noel Conroy replied: "Yes." His comments, made at a Garda/PSNI-organised cross-Border crime seminar in Dublin, represent the first time that An Garda has officially said it believes the money came from the Northern Bank robbery. "I am satisfied at this stage of the investigation that we will show that the money recovered during Operation Phoenix is part of the takings from the robbery of the Northern Bank in Belfast. I am satisfied at this stage of the investigation that that is so."

PSNI Chief Constable Hugh Orde said the location of the remainder of the £26.5 million (€37.85 million) haul was "largely irrelevant". By working with the banks the PSNI had rendered much of the money useless.

"It wasn't a hugely successful operation," he said. "We suspect a lot of the money may have been disposed of because it is now useless."

In the wake of the IRA's disbandment statement last month, the PSNI was monitoring any criminal activity which the paramilitaries may still be involved in. "It's still early to tell post the statement. As you can imagine, we are looking at it extremely carefully. Whatever we do find will be sent to the IMC [International Monitoring Commission] and I think its next report in January will be absolutely critical."

He agreed with Mr Conroy that it was impossible to say how much cross-Border paramilitary activity was worth in financial terms.

"But if you look at a number of operations we had recently, if you look at one case, where we seized one container of cigarettes, that's £1.1 million of evaded tax to the exchequer. So you can see the scale of it. One successful operation for a criminal represents a substantial amount of money."

It was difficult to determine if crime gangs or paramilitary crime gangs were behind much of the for-profit crime in Northern Ireland.

"It's a fine distinction to work out which is which sometimes. Are these paramilitaries operating for themselves or operating for an organisation? But we are very clear, they are all criminals, it's quite straightforward.

"The work we are doing is taking away the money. That is key, it's the one way of hurting these people. It damages them in relation to credibility regarding status in their own criminal community, and it damages them in making the whole effort they have put in completely worthless."

Head of the Assets Recovery Agency Alan McQuillan said he looked forward to working with the Cab in future investigations. He said he was pleased with the progress being made into the ownership of about 250 houses in the Manchester area, which were the subject of raids last Thursday.