Tuesday, January 02, 2007
Northern robbed under nose of PSNI..?
ONE of my favourite stories (as yet unconfirmed!) from 2006 was about the Chief Constable almost having a ringside seat of the Northern Bank robbery. According to a normally-reliable source, while the £26.5 million raid was being carried out, Hugh Orde (and other senior cops and ARA types) were at a Christmas bash in the Apartment bar, less than 100 feet away. Like I said, unconfirmed, but mildly amusing… and strangely plausible!
Belfast Gonzo @ 09:09 PM
Wnder what they were drinking.
“Special” Powers?Posted by on Jan 02, 2007 @ 09:33 PMCheering them on, no doubt, while reading the transcripts of Bobby Storey’s cellphone!!
Posted by on Jan 02, 2007 @ 09:33 PMNice bar. The views over that part of Belfast are spectacular. Although the view while having a drink there is the last thing on anyones mind, usually its how do I get down these blasted stairs!!
Posted by on Jan 02, 2007 @ 09:46 PMHugh Orde’s favourite cocktail:
“acquiescence”
Posted by on Jan 02, 2007 @ 09:47 PMGonzo
I saw an amusing sign in a Bakery, which said “Hot Cross Buns 6p”, laugh I nearly shat at how plausible it was.
Bystanders in the street went so what!!!
Posted by on Jan 02, 2007 @ 10:01 PMHo Ho Ho!, Christmas cheers from Mr Law and Orde at a piss-up. Perhaps Mr Orde knows more than he should, or maybe...He would,nt?? Would he?.
Posted by on Jan 02, 2007 @ 10:15 PMI was on my way home from work, and I actually walked right past the scene of the robbery at approximately the time it took place, in order to get a bus up the Antrim Road. Obviously, I’ve got no recollection of seeing the van or any sign that there was anything going on. Vans park in that small street all the time.
Gerry, I don’t see why anyone thinks The Apartment is such a big deal. It’s another washed out characterless yuppy bar that tries to make itself seem cool by virtue of having strangely shaped seats. But it beats the hell out of Truffles, that’s for sure.
Posted by on Jan 02, 2007 @ 10:54 PMerr, thanks for that dramatic eye-witness account Comrade Stalin.
Posted by on Jan 02, 2007 @ 10:56 PMbelfast gonso
Was Christmas that boring.
Posted by on Jan 02, 2007 @ 10:59 PMObviously, I’ve got no recollection of seeing the van or any sign that there was anything going on.
Don’t blame yourself. That was the IRA’s trademark lack of visible evidence you saw. You account confirms that they were in fact responsible.
Posted by on Jan 02, 2007 @ 11:01 PMActually now Henry, the visible evidence turned up all over the place, including wheelie bins, hedges, Daz boxes, the former SF vice president’s loan sharking company and the RUC social club toilet.
So either the IRA and the cops robbed the bank together, or the PSNI and the Gardai let the IRA off the hook altogether.
Collusion, how are ye?Posted by on Jan 03, 2007 @ 10:11 AMHang on, wasn’t the new police college facing a shortfall of about 26m? :)
Posted by on Jan 03, 2007 @ 10:53 AMQuaysider
We are still waiting patiently for the promised forensic link between the money in the Daz box in Dublin and the money in the bin in Cork to be linked to either the Northen Bank robbery of the mainstream republican movement.
An alleged member of the rira has been charged in relation to the daz money. Foe some reason that case has yet to be heard. It wouldn’t shock me if charges were dropped for lack of evidence.
Nothing much has happened in relation to the bin money. No charges no forensics. Keeping money in a bin is not in itself a crime.
Posted by on Jan 03, 2007 @ 10:58 AM“Keeping money in a bin is not in itself a crime”
Priceless.
Posted by on Jan 03, 2007 @ 11:13 AMWhen my hairdresser’s aged grandmother died two years ago she had a note in her will that there as money in a locked box in her basement and that the key to the box was in a safety deposit box in her bank. When the key was recoverd and the box opened, the money was recovered - one dollar.
Now, that’s priceless.Posted by on Jan 03, 2007 @ 11:21 AM“It wouldn’t shock me if charges were dropped for lack of evidence.”
How did you know?!
Posted by on Jan 03, 2007 @ 12:49 PMThe Political Prosecution Service strikes again.
Posted by on Jan 03, 2007 @ 12:52 PMHellsBells
Much as I would like too claim clairvoyance I was talking about the Dublin case.
Posted by on Jan 03, 2007 @ 01:47 PM
