Gerry Adams, the Sinn Fein leader, reacted with fury today to an official report that senior party leaders sanctioned the £26.5m Northern Bank robbery in Belfast and challenged Bertie Ahern, the Irish Prime Minister, to have him arrested if he thought it was true.
The report from the Independent Monitoring Commission (IMC), which follows paramilitary activity in the Northern Ireland, said the senior members were also part of the IRA leadership that gave the go-ahead for three other raids resulting in the theft of more than £3m of goods last year.
Police investigating the Northern Bank raid in December are continuing to carry out searches in Beragh, near Omagh, Co Tyrone. The commission, which monitors paramilitary activity, did not identify Sinn Fein members in senior