Northern Bank robbery charges dropped

RedPlanet

I see charges were dropped against 2 of the accused.
http://www.rte.ie/news/2007/0103/belfast.html
Little fanfare in the press about that.
Looking more and more like an inside job, something certain people have been saying since.....well the robbery really.
At least 2 bank employees are currently in custody.
I wonder will the media and government(s) be offering public apologies to Sinn Fein when the whole matter is resolved?

Zombrex

RedPlanet wrote:

I wonder will the media and government(s) be offering public apologies to Sinn Fein when the whole matter is resolved?

Why?

RedPlanet

Wicknight wrote:

Why?

Because they and the PIRA have been blamed by the Irish government, as well as accused by the mainstream press over the matter.

Fratton Fred

RedPlanet wrote:

Because they and the PIRA have been blamed by the Irish government, as well as accused by the mainstream press over the matter.

I'd heard accusations against the PIRA but not SF.

I can't see anyone apologising to a terrorist organisation:rolleyes:

RedPlanet

Fratton Fred wrote:

I'd heard accusations against the PIRA but not SF.
I can't see anyone apologising to a terrorist organisation:rolleyes:

Then you weren't paying attention at the time.
Nobody is saying the government need apologize to a "terrorist organisation", rather apologise for wrongful accusations which hurt the Peace Process which directly effects everybody, particularly in NI.

ghostdancer

Fratton Fred wrote:

I'd heard accusations against the PIRA but not SF.

well then why were SF's allowances cut?

ghostdancer

RedPlanet wrote:

rather apologise for wrongful accusations which hurt the Peace Process which directly effects everybody, particularly in NI.

well people are still waiting for the British Government to apologise for their unnaccountable security services making up the whole "sinn fein spy ring" story which brought down the NI Executive in the first place, and turned out to be a complete bunch of rubbish, so i wouldn't hold my breath....

nacho libre

RedPlanet wrote:

I see charges were dropped against 2 of the accused.
http://www.rte.ie/news/2007/0103/belfast.html
Little fanfare in the press about that.
Looking more and more like an inside job, something certain people have been saying since.....well the robbery really.
At least 2 bank employees are currently in custody.
I wonder will the media and government(s) be offering public apologies to Sinn Fein when the whole matter is resolved?

The littlejohn brothers all over again, is it??

Could it be the guy who sanctioned the robbery is a senior IRA figure who was taking instructions/orders from MI5 in London?

ghostdancer

nacho libre wrote:

The littlejohn brothers all over again, is it??

Could it be the guy who sanctioned the robbery is a senior IRA figure who was taking instructions/orders from MI5 in London?

oh ffs....:rolleyes:

nacho libre

ghostdancer wrote:

oh ffs....:rolleyes:

Was this your reponse in the early 1990's when allegations of collusion between the British security services and Loyalist paramilitaries was first metioned. Have you heard of Stakeknife? Was this your reponse at the time rumours first started to surface about an informant at the highest level in the IRA?
Granted my claim about the robbery maybe be without basis but it is disingenous of you or at worst naive to deny state security agency don't have agendas and instruct agents to inflitrate or recruit informers to commit crimes to further their own or their government's agenda. Wasn't the Northern bank job a huge embarassement to Sinn Fein and it brought huge political pressure on them? In whose interest was that?

constitutionus

cant say im surprised. and for the record macdowel went on newstalk when dunphy was still doing the morning show and spent a half hour blaming Sein fein for this, some how cant see him apologising for it though.

from day one theres been something that bugged me about the robery, the skill involved was definetly up there with what the IRA are capable of pulling off but why the hell did people who supposedly were going to ship it out of the north steal northern notes

i work in foreign exchage, no one wants those notes as most people wanting sterling want bank of england notes cause theyre accepted everywhere in the UK where as all the other ones including the scotish ones are looked at somewhat askance. also you can forget about using em abroad (for those that dont know theres at least 6 different banks with the liscence to print their own money in the UK , hence all the different formats :rolleyes: ) plus there's feck all chance of recalling all the bank of england notes ala what happend with the northern ones . it doesnt make sense

the only logical reason is the people who nicked it wanted to use em in the north so its obvious from that point of view that this must be an inside job. or at the very least a gangland one. people forget that there are about 3 criminal gangs in the north that dont have any connection to loyalist or nationalist forces who are well able to pull this off. this could account for the stupidity of nicking a parochial note that could easily be replaced.

does beg the question whats going on with the gardai who're after people for supposedly burning it in their back gardens in cork and kerry though

monument

nacho libre wrote:

Could it be the guy who sanctioned the robbery is a senior IRA figure who was taking instructions/orders from MI5 in London?

ghostdancer wrote:

oh ffs....:rolleyes:

Yeah, no IRA/SF senior member could ever be an informer on MI5's books...

http://images.google.ie/images?hl=en&q=Denis+Donaldson&btnG=Search+Images
:rolleyes:

RedPlanet

nacho libre wrote:

Have you heard of Stakeknife?

That whole Steaknife story identifying Scappaticci was a load of rubbish.
Since when do members of the HMG Intelligence service name their informers and talk about what they get up to?
The answer is, they don't.
They refuse to comment about particular cases or people.
That my friend, is the Status Quo, always has been, always will be the case.
Danny Morrison said the same.

Zombrex

RedPlanet wrote:

Because they and the PIRA have been blamed by the Irish government, as well as accused by the mainstream press over the matter.

As far as I know that hasn't changed, everyone still thinks the IRA were involved.

nacho libre

RedPlanet wrote:

That whole Steaknife story identifying Scappaticci was a load of rubbish.
Since when do members of the HMG Intelligence service name their informers and talk about what they get up to?
The answer is, they don't.
They refuse to comment about particular cases or people.
That my friend, is the Status Quo, always has been, always will be the case.
Danny Morrison said the same.

According to Ed Maloney it was well-known by the IRA leadership that Scappaticci was the informant as early as the late nineties
Some disaffected and money-grabbing MI5 agents have been known to talk in the past. That is how this type of information generally gets out but i take your point more often than not the intelligence services' would be spreading disinformation. As we saw with the allegations that surfaced against Martin McGuinness last year.

RedPlanet

Wicknight wrote:

As far as I know that hasn't changed, everyone still thinks the IRA were involved.

Everybody bar the Crown prosecution eh?

ghostdancer

nacho libre wrote:

Was this your reponse in the early 1990's when allegations of collusion between the British security services and Loyalist paramilitaries was first metioned. Have you heard of Stakeknife? Was this your reponse at the time rumours first started to surface about an informant at the highest level in the IRA?
Granted my claim about the robbery maybe be without basis but it is disingenous of you or at worst naive to deny state security agency don't have agendas and instruct agents to inflitrate or recruit informers to commit crimes to further their own or their government's agenda. Wasn't the Northern bank job a huge embarassement to Sinn Fein and it brought huge political pressure on them? In whose interest was that?

no, it was my response when you took the thread off to a ridiculous tangent, which has been discussed in other threads and doesn't need to clog up this one with idle speculation.

ghostdancer

monument wrote:

Yeah, no IRA/SF senior member could ever be an informer on MI5's books...

http://images.google.ie/images?hl=en&q=Denis+Donaldson&btnG=Search+Images
:rolleyes:

yeah, pity for you i never implied that.

try using some common sense, or at least basic reading and comprehension skills in future, that way you won't jump to conclusions and make irrelevant points.

oscarBravo

ghostdancer wrote:

try using some common sense, or at least basic reading and comprehension skills in future

Careful now.

A Dub in Glasgo

Interesting read from the archives of boards about this robbery and all the cack that was spouted.

nacho libre

ghostdancer wrote:

no, it was my response when you took the thread off to a ridiculous tangent, which has been discussed in other threads and doesn't need to clog up this one with idle speculation.

I don't see it's as idle speculation or going off on a tangent since what i said has relevant to this thread. The charges were dropped and it's reasonable to speculate why. I wasn't a member when these other discussions took place. Furthermore, unless you are a moderator you don't have the remit to frame the basis of a discussion or tell me what points i can and can't make. Also, before attacking another members comprehension skills, you might want to re-read the rules, there is something in there about not insulting people.

stooge

The Northern Bank robbery is just one in a long line of of convinient "episodes" which have destablised the whole peace process:

Ransacking of SF offices in Stormont
Informant allegations
Northern Bank Robbery
DUP needing 'photographic evidence' of IRA disamourment
etc etc

All have these have been driven by a) the British Government b) the British and Irish media and C) Loyalist politicians....

If you think that any of the above parties are going to give an apology to SF or any of the accused for the NB robbery, you're deluded. It's a credit to SF leadership how they can have come through so many of these challenges.