drove back to his house. Around this time, McMullan's wife was driven to Drumkeeragh Forest near Ballynahinch and released. She found her way to a house to raise the alarm, where she was treated for hypothermia. At 23:00, following his final instructions, Ward called the police to inform them the robbery had taken place. The criminals took a total of £26.5 million: £16.5 million in uncirculated Northern Bank pound sterling banknotes; £5.5 million in used Northern Bank sterling notes; £4.5 million in used notes supplied by other banks; and smaller cash amounts in other currencies including euros and US dollars. Whilst the new and uncirculated notes (£9 million in £20 notes and £7.5 million in £10 notes) would be hard to launder since the bank immediately announced the serial numbers, the used notes were untraceable. The police quickly set up an investigation composed of 50 detectives. Assistant Chief Constable Sam Kincaid commented "this was not a lucky crime, this was a well-organised crime." Initial responses Although the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) initially refused to be drawn as to who might be involved, a number of commentators, including journalist Kevin Myers writing in the Daily Telegraph, quickly blamed the Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA). One senior police officer quoted in The Guardian newspaper said: "This operation required great expertise and coordination, probably more than the loyalist gangs possess". On 7 January 2005, the Chief Constable of the PSNI Hugh Orde issued an interim report in which he blamed the Provisional IRA for the robbery. The British government concurred with Orde's assessment, as did the Independent Monitoring Commission (the body appointed by the Irish and British governments to oversee the Northern Ireland ceasefires). Sinn Féin, however, denied the Chief Constable's claim, saying the IRA had not conducted the raid and that Sinn Féin officials had not known of or sanctioned the robbery. Martin McGuinness (a leading Sinn Féin negotiator) said that Orde's accusation represented "nothing more than politically-biased allegations. This is more to do with halting the process of change which Sinn Féin has been driving forward than with anything that happened at the Northern Bank". On the other hand, Bertie Ahern the Irish Taoiseach said that "an operation of this magnitude had obviously been planned at a stage when I was in negotiations with those that would know the leadership of the Provisional movement." The Independent Monitoring Commission recommended