Bank Heist in Ireland

BBC NEWS | Northern Ire­land | Millions sto­len in bank raid: “Rai­ders have sto­len millions of pounds in cash from a bank in Belfast.

The pre­cise amount of money taken from the Northern Bank is not yet known but the bank said it was ‘significant’.

It is unders­tood two emplo­yees of the bank and their fami­lies were held cap­tive before the rob­bery took place.

It hap­pe­ned at the bank’s head­quar­ters in Done­gall Square West in the city.

It is belie­ved it could be one of the big­gest cash rob­be­ries in the UK.

No figure has been put on the amount sto­len, but spe­cu­la­tion has varied from bet­ween £20m and £30m.

Police were first aler­ted to the rob­bery at about 2345 GMT on Monday.

It is belie­ved mem­bers of the gang took over the homes of senior offi­cials from the bank.

It is unders­tood that no-one was inju­red but one per­son is being trea­ted for hypothermia.

The buil­ding hou­ses the bank’s cash cen­tre, where tens of millions of pounds are belie­ved to have been stored.

It is tra­di­tio­nally one of the busiest shop­ping weeks in the run-up to Christ­mas and large amounts of cash would have come in from busi­nes­ses in the city.

The cen­tre also takes in newly prin­ted notes, sorts and dis­tri­bu­tes them.”