Pretoria - A man who held up a bank at a Midrand mall threatening to detonate a bomb has been arrested, police said.
Superintendent Eugene Opperman said the man entered the Sandridge Mall on Tuesday afternoon and took money from the Standard Bank inside the mall.
"Security staff saw what was happening and notified police who arrived at the scene shortly and handcuffed him," Opperman told BuaNews.
When the man was led away to the parking lot he told the police that he had a bomb around his waist.
"Police could see that there was something around his waist and then the task force members grabbed him and noticed that the device was made up of wooden blocks and some wiring. It was a fake," said Opperman.
According to police the man will appear in the Midrand Magistrate's Court on Thursday on charges of armed robbery and making false bomb threats.
The money he had stolen from the bank was recovered.
