LONDON, Jan. 7 (Xinhuanet) -- Northern Ireland chief constable Hugh Orde said Friday that he believed the Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA) carried out the 22-million-pound (about 42-million-US-dollar) bank robbery in Belfast last month.

    After several weeks of investigation, the police were now pretty sure the paramilitary group was behind the heist, Orde saidin a televised news conference.

    "On the basis of the investigative work we have done to date, evidence we have collected and exhibits we have collected and bringing that all together and working through it, in my opinion the Provisional IRA was responsible for this crime and all main lines of inquiry currently undertaken are in that direction," the police chief said.

    However, he declined to make any further comments on the IRA involvement, saying he did not want to compromise the ongoing investigation.

    Meanwhile, the Northern Bank in Belfast, whose headquarters hadbeen totally cleared of cash during the robbery, is going to replace its entire current series of notes in a bid to track the lost money and the gang, Sky News reported.

    The IRA and its allied Sinn Fein party have repeatedly rejectedaccusations of IRA involvement in the crime, the biggest all-cash robbery in Northern Ireland's history. Enditem