Two men arrested over bank notes

A large quantity of Northern Bank notes were seized

Money seized in County Armagh is not linked to last month's £26.5m robbery at the Northern Bank head office in Belfast, police have said.

Two men were arrested after a large number of Northern bank £100 notes were found in Craigavon on Sunday.

A total of £42,000 was recovered in searches of two houses and business premises in Banbridge, County Down.

Police said they believed the notes recovered were linked to other possible money laundering offences.

Retailers in Portadown confirmed that a number of people tried to buy low value items, such as magazines, with high denomination notes on Sunday.

It is believed as much as £6,000 in £100 notes was taken at the Rushmere Centre.

Police appealed to shopkeepers and businesses to be vigilant.

The Northern Bank has already announced plans to remove almost its entire issue of notes from circulation in a bid to thwart the gang who looted the underground bunker at its cash distribution centre on 20 December.

Police service chief constable Hugh Orde, blaming the IRA for the raid on Friday, said that the withdrawal of the notes from circulation made the raid the biggest robbery of "wastepaper" in history.