Man linked to IRA money-laundering, bank heist convicted of IRA membership

A man caught with a cash-filled box during the hunt for those behind a massive bank robbery in Northern Ireland was convicted Tuesday of membership in the outlawed Irish Republican Army.

The three-judge Special Criminal Court, which handles terrorism-related cases without a jury, said it would sentence Don Bullman on March 14. The offense typically carries a sentence of five to seven years.

Bullman was the first person to be convicted in connection with the Dec. 20, 2004, raid on the central cash vault of Northern Bank in Belfast. Police arrested him two months later as he met two Northern Ireland men at a Dublin train station — and found him in possession of a washing-detergent box containing mixed British and euro currency with a value exceeding €94,000 (US$120,000).

Bullman, 32, denied the charge of IRA membership. The judges accepted evidence that included testimony from one of Ireland's senior police commanders and text-message records between Bullman and the two men he had met at the train station.

Police said when they arrested Bullman, he claimed the box contained toys. A search found three wads of currency hidden under washing powder.

So far, police on both sides of the Irish border have failed to find most of the 26.5 million pounds (€38 million, US$50 million) stolen from the Northern Bank. British, Irish and international authorities blamed the IRA for organizing the raid, which involved the families of two Northern Bank officials being held hostage to force them to cooperate in gaining access to the vault.

Bullman was arrested during a February 2005 wave of police raids on suspected IRA money-launderers in the Irish Republic. Police seized stashes of hidden cash, mostly Northern Ireland-produced British currency, worth more than €3 million (US$4 million), much of which was suspected of being taken from the Belfast bank.

Police arrested more than a dozen other people — including a man spotted burning wads of Northern Bank-printed notes in his fireplace — during the February 2005 swoops, but so far have not leveled charges against anyone besides Bullman, citing the complexity of money-laundering investigations.

In the British territory of Northern Ireland, just one person is awaiting trial on a charge of involvement in the Northern Bank robbery — one of the targeted bank employees, Chris Ward. He has denied the charge and insists he was coerced into helping the robbers.

http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2007/02/20/europe/EU-GEN-Ireland-IRA-Money-Laundering.php