the Irish nationalist Social Democratic and Labour Party condemned the IRA as a criminal enterprise. The IRA rejected the statements and Gerry Adams commented "the IRA statement is obviously a direct consequence of the retrograde stance of the two governments [...] It is evidence of a deepening crisis and I regret that very much." Leaked US communications revealed that Bertie Ahern suspected Gerry Adams and Martin McGuinness had known about the robbery and this made his attitude towards them toughen. Garda surveillance had recorded Adams meeting with Ted Cunningham before the heist took place. Alongside the murder of Robert McCartney in January 2005, the robbery caused the US government to block fund-raising for Sinn Féin in the United States (the ban was dropped in November 2005). When Gerry Adams denied that the IRA were involved in any way, the Ulster Unionist Party (UUP) announced it could not share power with Sinn Féin any longer and withdrew from the coalition governing Northern Ireland. Bobby Storey was arrested and released without charge regarding the murder of McGuigan. Storey had been accused under parliamentary privilege in the House of Commons of the United Kingdom by Ulster Unionist Party (UUP) Member of Parliament David Burnside of being the planner of the Northern Bank robbery. In 2014, the former head of the Assets Recovery Agency commented that he believed the IRA were still struggling to launder some of the money taken in the heist owing to the size of the haul. Former IRA bank robber Ricky O’Rawe published a work of fiction in 2018 entitled Northern Heist about a Belfast bank robbery which bore strong resemblances to the Northern Bank robbery. As of 2018, the heist remained one of the largest in the history of both the United Kingdom and the Republic of Ireland, and nobody had been held directly responsible. It had been the largest cash robbery in the UK until the Securitas depot robbery in 2006, when almost £53 million was stolen. See also City bonds robbery Portuguese Bank Note Crisis – a 1925 crime with comparable political and economic repercussions List of bank robbers and robberies List of heists in the United Kingdom References Further reading Heist: The Northern Bank Robbery at BBC Programmes 2000s crimes in Northern Ireland 2004 crimes in the United Kingdom 2004 in Northern Ireland 21st century in Belfast Bank robberies Robberies in the United Kingdom Unsolved crimes