SENIOR republican Bobby Storey is to sue police for "unlawful arrest" after he was last night released from custody without charge.
His solicitor said "no evidence was put at any stage" to the northern chairman of Sinn Féin during questioning by detectives probing the killing of former IRA man Kevin McGuigan.
Mr Storey, a close ally of party leader Gerry Adams, was detained along with prominent republicans Eddie Copeland and Brian Gillen on Wednesday.
Within hours of Mr Storey's release, Mr Copeland (45) and Mr Gillen (58) were also released unconditionally.
Ahead of Mr Storey's release shortly after 6pm, Deputy First Minister Martin McGuinness tweeted that it was due to happen as he had "confidently predicted".
Mr Storey's solicitor John Finucane later said his client would be taking legal action.
"After two days in Antrim my client Bobby Storey has been freed," he tweeted.
"No evidence was put at any stage and my client will be suing for unlawful arrest."
Speaking at a public meeting in Co Louth last night, Mr Adams welcomed the release of the 59-year-old.
"The unconditional release of Bobby Storey underlines the contrived nature of the current crisis in the political institutions in the north," he said.
"I want to reiterate my grave concern about the nature in which the murder of two men has been exploited and also at the way the current difficulties have developed in the last few weeks, including the arrest of Bobby Storey."
Mr Storey, who has an office at Stormont, has been arrested several times in relation to high-profile police investigations, including the Castlereagh break-in, the Northern Bank robbery and the disappearance of Jean McConville in 1972.
A 50-year-old woman, the latest person to be detained in the McGuigan investigation, has also since been released following her arrest in Belfast yesterday.
A total of 17 arrests have been made in connection with the killing of Mr McGuigan, who was gunned down outside his home at Comber Court in the Short Strand area of east Belfast last month.
It is alleged to have been carried out in retaliation for the murder of another former IRA prisoner, Gerard "Jock" Davison in May.
Senior PSNI officers have said Mr McGuigan's murder was not sanctioned by the Provisional IRA, but one major line of inquiry is that members were involved.
