Editing Northern Bank robbery (section)

==Robbery==
In the early 2000s, [[Northern Bank]] (now Danske Bank) was the largest retail bank in Northern Ireland, with 95 branches. It was then owned by [[National Australia Bank]] and its [[Northern Bank Headquarters|headquarters]] were at [[Donegall Square|Donegall Square West]] in Belfast. It was one of four banks in Northern Ireland permitted to print its own [[Northern Ireland banknotes|bank notes]], in denominations of £5, £10, £20, £50 and £100.<ref name="Common" />

On the night of Sunday 19 December 2004, groups of armed men arrived at the homes of two employees of Northern Bank, one in [[Downpatrick]], [[County Down]], the other in [[Poleglass]], west Belfast.<ref name="Timeline">{{cite news |title=Timeline: Northern Bank robbery |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/northern_ireland/4117219.stm |access-date=3 November 2020 |work=BBC News |date=7 January 2005 |archive-date=17 October 2007 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071017134110/http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/northern_ireland/4117219.stm |url-status=live }}</ref> Chris Ward was taken from his house in County Down and driven to Poleglass, where Kevin McMullan (his supervisor at the bank) had been tied up by men disguised as officers from the [[Police Service of Northern Ireland]] (PSNI). Gunmen remained at Ward's home, keeping his family hostage. McMullan's wife was taken from her home and held at an unknown location. The criminals left at 06:00 on Monday morning, 20 December, having instructed the two workers to report for work as normal at the bank's headquarters.<ref name="Timeline" />

The gang constantly kept in touch with McMullan and Ward using mobile telephones it had given them. The two men were ordered to tell staff to go home early and to fill a bag with £1&nbsp;million in £50 and £100 notes. Ward was then instructed to leave the bank carrying the bag and go to a bus stop in nearby Upper Queen Street, where one of the robbers picked it up. This was later regarded as being a test run for the main [[List of heists in the United Kingdom|theft]] in the evening.<ref name="Moore">{{cite book |last1=Moore |first1=Chris |title=Ripe for the picking: The inside story of the Northern Bank robbery |date=2006 |publisher=Gill & Macmillan |location=Dublin |isbn=978-0717140015 }}</ref>{{rp|17}} McMullan and Ward remained at work after the close of business and were instructed to load crates of banknotes onto trolleys.<ref name="Timeline" /> Having told the security staff they would be wheeling out rubbish for collection, they made four trips to move the trolleys from the basement to the bullion bay, where money was normally picked up and dropped off. They covered the crates with office furniture and empty cardboard boxes to disguise them. After Ward called the gang, a white van came to the headquarters and was permitted by security to enter the bay, where it took the two bank employees 15 minutes to load everything in.<ref name="Moore"/>{{rp|20–21}} The criminals said they would come back to pick up more trolleys, ordering Ward and McMullan to fill up as many as possible. By the time the van returned, the workers had only filled two more, which were again wheeled up from basement to the van.<ref name="Moore" />{{rp|22–23}} They then locked up the bank, setting alarms and leaving as usual; they drove to Ward's house, where the masked men were still guarding his family. At around 21:00, the criminals left, carefully erasing any forensic trace of their presence by scrubbing surfaces down and taking away cups they had used.<ref name="Moore" />{{rp|23–24}} After twenty minutes, McMullan left and drove back to his house.<ref name="Moore" />{{rp|25}} Around this time, McMullan's wife was driven to [[Drumkeeragh Forest]] near [[Ballynahinch, County Down|Ballynahinch]] and released. She found her way to a house to raise the alarm and was treated for [[hypothermia]].<ref name="Timeline" /> At 23:00, following his final instructions, Ward called the police to inform them the robbery had taken place.<ref name="Moore" />{{rp|25}}

The criminals took £26.5&nbsp;million{{efn|name=26m|Equivalent to £{{Inflation|UK|26.5|2004|r=1}}&nbsp;million in {{Inflation/year|UK}}{{Inflation/fn|UK}}}}: £16.5&nbsp;million in uncirculated Northern Bank [[pound sterling]] banknotes; £5.5&nbsp;million in used Northern Bank sterling notes; £4.5&nbsp;million in used notes supplied by other banks and smaller cash amounts in other currencies including [[euro]]s and US dollars.<ref name="Moore" />{{rp|38}}<ref name="Glendinning">{{cite news |last1=Glendinning |first1=Lee |title=Northern Bank robbery: The crime that nearly ended the Northern Ireland peace process |url=https://www.theguardian.com/uk/2008/oct/09/northernbankrobbery.background |access-date=3 November 2020 |work=The Guardian |date=9 October 2008 |archive-date=30 September 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130930220248/http://www.theguardian.com/uk/2008/oct/09/northernbankrobbery.background |url-status=live }}</ref> The new and uncirculated notes (£9&nbsp;million in £20 notes and £7.5&nbsp;million in £10 notes) would be hard to launder since the bank immediately announced the serial numbers, but the used notes were untraceable.<ref name="Moore" />{{rp|38}} The police quickly set up an investigation composed of 50 detectives. Assistant Chief Constable Sam Kincaid commented "this was not a lucky crime, this was a well-organised crime".<ref name="BT-181214">{{cite news |title=10 facts about the IRA's £26.5m raid on Northern Bank |url=https://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/northern-ireland/10-facts-about-the-iras-265m-raid-on-northern-bank-30848746.html |access-date=3 November 2020 |work=Belfast Telegraph |date=18 December 2014 |archive-date=14 May 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200514150146/https://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/northern-ireland/10-facts-about-the-iras-265m-raid-on-northern-bank-30848746.html |url-status=live }}</ref>