Sinn Féin leader Gerry Adams has been released from custody this evening without charge.
Adams has been held by the PSNI at the serious crime suite in Antrim Police Station since Wednesday evening in relation to the disappearance and death of Jean McConville.
BBC News confirmed that Adams, who has always denied any involvement, has left police custody.
The PSNI issued a short statement:
65 year old man arrested by Detectives investigating the abduction and murder of Jean McConville has been released pending report to PPS.
— PSNI (@PoliceServiceNI) May 4, 2014
Adams was arrested on Wednesday evening after volunteering to meet with the PSNI to discuss the murder of the mother-of-ten, who was abducted from her flat by the IRA in December of 1972 and became known as one of ‘The Disappeared.’
Her body was recovered on a County Louth beach in August 2003.
BBC News also reported that a file will be sent to the Public Prosecution Service from the police with details of the evidence gathered.
Sinn Fein branded the move to arrest Adams as “political policing”.
Speaking to the media, Martin McGuinness said that the detention was “inextricably linked to the local government and European elections that will take place across this island in a few weeks”.
