Northern Ireland bank and IRA dispute

A man is detained Tuesday in connection with the robbery of $50 million from the Northern Ireland bank where he works. Now, questions have arisen as to whether the heist was an inside job.

Northern Ireland police commanders, as well as the British and Irish governments, have accused the outlaw Irish Republican Army of robbing the bank's central vault; allegations the IRA denies.

During the robbery, which went down December 20, armed gangs of masked men took the families of two important Northern Bank employees hostage and threatened to kill them if the men refused to cooperate.

One of those men was 24-year-old Chris Ward, a resident of Poleglass in west Belfast, the power base of the IRA.

Ward and a 22-year-old woman were being questioned Tuesday, and could be held without charge for up to a week under British anti-terrorism laws.

So far, three others have been charged and ordered held without bail in connection with the heist; no one has been accused of carrying out the robbery, which is the biggest cash theft in British history, AHN reports.

V.Y.