PSNI chiefs have blamed republicans for a £2 million (€2.9 million) robbery of cigarettes from the Gallaher's factory in Belfast at the weekend, prompting unionists to claim it was the work of the IRA.
Assistant chief constable Mr Sam Kinkaid told the North's Policing Board yesterday that republican paramilitaries were responsible for the robbery of up to £2 million worth of cigarettes. However, he did not go so far as blame the IRA.
The DUP and the Ulster Unionists, however, blamed the IRA, and made clear that neither would enter into government with Sinn Féin while the IRA was involved in such operations.
It was the second major robbery of Gallaher's in the past 12 months. It was carried out after an armed gang held a family in Ardoyne, north Belfast, hostage late on Friday night. A man from the house was forced to go to work as normal at Gallaher's warehouse in south Belfast. Members of the gang then drove a lorry to the plant and took the cigarettes.
The PSNI Chief Constable, Mr Hugh Orde, said a report on the robbery would be sent to the Independent Monitoring Commission, which decides whether paramilitaries are observing ceasefires.
The Gallaher's robbery was one of several major raids in the past year. After a £1 million robbery of cigarettes from a Gallaher's lorry near the Border last December, the company was forced to transport cigarettes from the North to the South via Liverpool.
DUP Policing Board member Mr Ian Paisley jnr said it was "inconceivable that this latest Gallaher's robbery was carried out without the sanction of the IRA".
Senior Ulster Unionist Assembly member Mr Michael McGimpsey said: "The robbery indicates that either Mr Adams and Mr McGuinness are not in control or they are not being honest with people about on-going paramilitary action."
A Sinn Féin spokesman said there was no evidence to support the claims that the IRA was involved in the latest robbery.
Mr Orde said at the Policing Board yesterday that outside and retired detectives would be seconded to a special unit of the PSNI to try to tackle the North's unsolved 1,800 murders of the Troubles.
