PSNI Chief Constable Hugh Orde has identified top-level republicans he believes plotted the Northern Bank robbery, it was claimed today.
Mr Orde also reassured Northern Ireland Police Board members that the £26.5 million sterling heist was an IRA operation.
Both nationalist SDLP and Democratic Unionist representatives of the authority emerged from a two-hour briefing at their Belfast headquarters convinced that detectives hunting the gang were on top of the investigation.
DUP member Mr Sammy Wilson said: "The one thing that was clear from the briefing given was that this would not have been done by people who were low-level operatives, nor indeed would they have taken the risk if it had not been sanctioned from higher up."
Although officers raided the homes of prominent Belfast republicans in the aftermath of the December 20th raid, no arrests have been made.
But sources inside today's meeting, who expressed surprise at the level of information Mr Orde was prepared to share, insisted his team of 45 detectives were on the right trail.
"He didn't actually name names but he might as well have and it goes higher than any of those whose homes were searched," the source said.
Mr Orde's public assessment that the Provisionals robbed the Northern's cash distribution centre in Belfast in an audacious operation that involved taking two families hostage, shattered political attempts to restore the Stormont power-sharing administration.
Sinn Féin leaders were outraged and the IRA has issued a statement denying any involvement. But after today's meeting SDLP representative Mr Alex Attwood insisted: "I have no doubt whatsoever that his attribution in relation to this matter is correct and that this inquiry is proceeding properly."
He added: "I believe that senior members of the republican movement, both those on the IRA side and those who position themselves as political representatives, the share of information was across that range of people."
Mr Orde left without making any comment, but policing board chairman Sir Desmond Rea said the briefing given by the chief constable and his assistant, Mr Sam Kinkaid, had gone into significant detail.
Senior Sinn Féin representative Mr Gerry Kelly insisted nothing new had emerged to put the IRA in the frame for the robbery. The North Belfast MLA said: "Speculation is no substitute for evidence. "All this just adds to the idea that it (the blame) comes from the same source and all we had today was a publicity platform based on a meeting by the Policing Board."