Police investigating the £22 million robbery at the Belfast's Northern Bank headquarters last week have issued serial numbers for the stolen cash. The numbers relate to three batches of new Northern Bank £10 notes stolen last Monday evening.
Det Supt Andy Sproule, the senior investigating officer in the case, urged other banking institutions, retailers and members of the public to look out for the notes.
The serial numbers are: BC 8500001, BC 8550000, BC 9100001, BC 9150000, BC 9350001 and BC 9400000.
However these notes are, according to the police, worth only £1.5 million, meaning that more than £20 million of the banknotes have yet to be publicly identified. The PSNI has revealed the proportions of notes issued by each of Northern Ireland's four main retail banks. These are the only serial numbers issued to date.
The Northern may consider withdrawing all its banknotes currently in circulation, estimated at some £300 million. This would immediately identify any of the stolen Northern Bank notes if the thieves try to introduce them gradually into circulation.
The PSNI has also released a photograph of the white 'box' van which was used to transfer the huge cash haul from the Northern Bank. The van, registration RCZ 6632, was captured on film by a camera mounted in College Square East, just 200 metres from the scene of the robbery near Belfast City Hall. The image was taken shortly after 7 p.m. on Monday and the vehicle could have been removing the first consignment of banknotes from the bank's cash centre.
Police investigating the theft have raided the homes of leading republicans in Belfast prompting fury from Sinn Féin. The party president said the searches were conducted on the orders of "securocrats" intent on causing political problems for the peace process which is delicately poised following the publication of the British-Irish Comprehensive Agreement in Belfast earlier this month. The process remains stalled on the question of photographic evidence of paramilitary decommissioning.
"This is a clearly orchestrated effort by the securocrats in the British system who are intent on wrecking the peace process," said Mr Gerry Adams. "Journalists were tipped off [ on Christmas Eve] in advance of the raids taking place in order to maximise the negative media spin surrounding them.
"There is widespread anger among nationalists and republicans at [ these] events. The objective of those who ordered these raids, and the heavy-handed and aggressive manner in which they were carried out, is deliberately intended to further de-stabilise the political situation."
The searches were carried out in republican areas of Belfast and included the homes of Mr John Trainor and Mr Eddie Copeland, a well-known north Belfast republican.
No arrests were made and Mr Trainor has not commented. However, it is reported that Mr Copeland said he is making a complaint to the Police Ombudsman, Mrs Nuala O'Loan.
A crowd of up to 100 people attacked police as they carried out a search in Ballymurphy in west Belfast. Five officers were injured and two needed hospital treatment.
A north Belfast Assembly member, Ms Cathy Stanton, said on Friday: "The PSNI delivered their Christmas message to the republican community. Since early morning they have been systematically raiding republicans' homes and also a number of small businesses. These raids are continuing into the evening. No republican has been arrested."
She claimed that officers had damaged homes and vandalised children's Christmas presents "all in the pursuit of a PR exercise aimed at destabilising the peace process". "The Christmas Eve operation, and its PR briefing beforehand, underline just how far removed we still are from an acceptable policing service and must come as an embarrassment to the SDLP who continue to provide the political cover for this sort of policing," she added.