Robbers escape with millions from a Belfast bank

[emad]

By Philippe Naughton, Times Online

A gang in Northern Ireland has carried out what could be Britain's biggest ever armed robbery, reportedly emptying the vaults at a Northern Bank cash centre in central Belfast of up to £30 million.

The robbers are believed to have kidnapped and held hostage family members of two senior employees at the bank, who were then forced to open up the vaults at the centre on Wellington Street after close of business yesterday.

Police would only confirm that a "substantial amount" of money had been taken in the robbery but bank sources put the figure as high as £30 million. That figure, if confirmed, would make the Belfast heist the UK's biggest armed robbery, beating the £26 million in bullion stolen at Heathrow's Brinks Mat warehouse in 1983.

The robbery is being probed by Assistant Chief Constable Sam Kinkaid's crime operations team, which specialises in investigating serious and organised crime. Hostage robberies have become increasingly common in Northern Ireland and are usually blamed on dissident Republican groups left over from the province's 30-year sectarian conflict.

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2-1411375,00.html

TIS the season for busting vaults and grabbing some Xmas £££££££££££s

[bin.dare]

1. Belfast bank raid one of biggest in history

http://www.ireland.com/newspaper/breaking/2004/1221/breaking58.htm

The robbery of more than £20 million (€28.8 million) from the headquarters of the Northern Bank in Belfast is one of the biggest heists in history.

It joins only a small list of famous robberies including the Great Train Robbery in 1963 and a bank heist in Beirut in 1976.

In August 1963 the Great Train Robbers' haul was £2,631,784 (€3,800,000) in banknotes - worth about £40 million (€58 million) today. The money was on a train en route from Glasgow to London, where it was to be destroyed, when it was ambushed near Mentmore in Buckinghamshire.

Train driver Jack Mills was left badly injured after being hit over the head and gang members were later rounded up and sentenced to jail terms of up to 30 years each

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[Massachusetts]

2. Brilliant!

:beer:

[bin.dare]

5. ...

fookin' brilliant :beer:

[American Parnell]

3. Belfast Bank Heist

So, let me get this straight...the rainbow connection ends at the Northern Bank cash centre in Belfast? They should have seen this one coming.

In all seriousness, let's not allow ourselves to forget about the centuries-old conflict in Northern Ireland.

[Massachusetts]

4. Welcome American Parnell

Brilliant!:toast: :hippie: :beer: