Two “good Samaritans” have identified themselves to police as the mystery benefactors who left tens of thousands of pounds on the streets of a tiny pit village in the hope it would be picked up by people in need.

The village of Blackhall Colliery in County Durham became the focus of global intrigue when detectives revealed that bundles of cash amounting to at least £26,000 had been scattered anonymously through the village, often on pavements, since 2014.

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Everyone in the normally sleepy coastal community seemingly had a theory about who might be behind the apparent acts of kindness. Was it a lottery winner? A drug dealer seeking to get rid of their ill-gotten gains? Or was it someone elderly and possibly vulnerable?

On Monday, the mystery was solved. Detectives revealed that two people had come forward to say they were responsible for leaving the meticulously prepared bundles of £20 notes, each time amounting to about £2,000, around Blackhall Colliery over the past six years.

Durham police said the pair’s identity would remain a tightly guarded secret, because they had no desire to receive public praise for their generosity.

Both benefactors had recently received “unexpected windfalls” and wanted to give something back, the force said. They came forward to police around Christmas time after seeing the worldwide publicity generated by the police appeal in November.

One told officers she had felt an emotional connection to the village after being helped by one of its residents and wanted to repay the kindness.

The pair’s names are being so closely guarded that even the detective who led the investigation, DC John Forster, said he did not know – or want to know – who they were.

Forster said the pair revealed their identities to a senior officer at Durham police headquarters and proved that they were the true benefactors by answering a series of questions about the cash that only they would have known.

“Something must have happened over time that brought them back to Blackhall and to give them such an emotional feeling towards the people there,” said Forster, adding only that they were not local, married or related. They may even have left the cash separately before later joining forces.

It was a mystery that had stumped detectives for years. Officers carried out numerous interviews, interrogated the local bank and post office staff and tested the cash for fingerprints, but the windfalls remained a riddle.

Police praised the honesty of 13 people who had found £2,000 bundles and handed them in to police. The money was returned to them when no one came forward to claim it.

Detectives have confirmed the money had been deliberately left in locations where it might be found by people in need, including pensioners and people who had fallen on hard times.

The anonymous duo said they would often wait to make sure the cash was picked up but had never sought any thanks for their donations.

It is not known whether they will continue to leave bundles in future, but any that are found and handed in to police will continue to be returned to the finder.

Forster said: “I’m really pleased we have an answer to this mystery and am glad we can now definitively rule out the money being linked to any crime or a vulnerable person.”

Forster said he did not know whether the pair had left more money than the £26,000 that the honest residents of Blackhall handed in to the police. “I’m still happy to think if it was not all, then most of it,” he said.

Speaking to the Guardian after returning from investigating a commercial burglary, Forster said the heartwarming nature of the story would stay with him for many years.

“Everyone who’s in this game unfortunately will have a full list of quite serious crimes that they’re ploughing through day after day. But with this, now we’ve found out what it is, you can say it’s good fun.”