Seventh arrest over £26.5m raid

Millions were taken from the vaults of the Northern Bank last December

A seventh man has been arrested by police investigating last December's £26.5m Northern Bank robbery.

The 39-year-old was arrested in Belfast on Monday. Three men are now being questioned about the robbery, while two have been released without charge.

This latest arrest came as a second man appeared in court charged in connection with the raid.

Martin McAliskey, 42, of Ballybeg Road, Coalisland, denied giving false police statements. He was granted bail.

The charge concerns the purchase, possession and sale of a Ford Transit van believed to have been used in the raid.

Charged

A detective sergeant said that when charged in police custody, Mr McAliskey replied: "Absolutely not".

The officer said she believed she could connect the accused to the charge.

Mr McAliskey was released on bail of £1,000

He was later released on bail of £1,000 and remanded to appear in court again next month.

Earlier on Monday, a 22-year-old man was arrested in Kilcoo in County Down in connection with the robbery.

On Friday, a 23-year-old County Down man who appeared in court denied involvement in the robbery. He was remanded in custody.

The robbery happened at the bank's Northern Ireland headquarters at Donegall Square West just before Christmas last year.

Some money seized in County Cork last February was linked to the robbery, but virtually all of the missing millions remain unrecovered.