Police officers investigating the murder of a Co Derry GAA official in 1997 have arrested nine people and searched dozens of properties in three counties.
Seán Brown (61) was abducted and murdered by the LVF after he locked the gates at Bellaghy's Wolfe Tone GAA club. His body and burned-out car were found in Randalstown, Co Antrim, about 10 miles away.
Officers connected to the Organised Crime Taskforce carried out yesterday's searches in Armagh, Antrim and Tyrone. Detectives were also conducting searches in relation to loyalist money-laundering operations, but police say this is not linked to the Brown murder. A further four arrests were made under proceeds of crime legislation.
The RUC investigation into the high-profile murder was the subject of a scathing report by Police Ombudsman Nuala O'Loan in January 2004.
She claimed the RUC inquiry had not been "efficiently and properly carried out" and that "no earnest effort was made to identify those who had carried out the murder".
Following this, Seán Brown's family reached agreement with PSNI chief constable Sir Hugh Orde on how a new investigation should proceed.
A new team of detectives, including officers from outside police services, are involved in the new inquiry.
Recently, the BBC's Crimewatch programme reconstructed Mr Brown's murder and included appeals for information from the Church of Ireland primate, Dr Robin Eames, and poet and family friend Séamus Heaney.
The PSNI is hopeful that the fresh appeals, the new information contained in the BBC programme about Mr Brown's whereabouts on the night of his murder and the new searches will advance the investigation.