Police, meanwhile, were on the hunt for a possible accomplice who eyewitnesses say was driving a maroon car, believed to be a Nissan Sentra.
According to the eyewitnesses, the driver dropped off the robber, but fled the scene without him.
The man in custody attempted to get away with an undisclosed amount of cash after terrorizing customers and employees at the bank in the Westridge Plaza on the Cable Beach Strip, police said.
Officers cornered the man, who made the daring robbery and escape in broad daylight, in a cul-de-sac near Casuarinas Hotel on West Bay Street where they retrieved the stolen cash and a loaded .357 magnum weapon.
Brenda Russell, an eyewitness to the robbery, said there were about 10 people on the line around 10:45 Monday when the robbery occurred.
“The robber held up his hand and in his hand was a gun,” Ms. Russell said. “He said to the teller ‘You have 15 seconds’ and he started counting backwards…14,13,12.”
Ms. Russell said that the male teller then retreated to the rear of the bank, but the robber jumped over the counter and followed him.
The frightened customers then ran out of the building, she said.
Ms. Russell added that she tried to flee in her car, but as she pulled away from her parking spot, the robber exited the bank and tried to carjack her, but her doors were locked.
She said she followed the robber in her car and watched him dart through a property on West Bay Street, which is said to be owned by the family of the late Bob Marley.
Ms. Russell said she called police on her cell phone, but workers in nearby New Oriental Dry Cleaners had also alerted authorities on their panic alarm having been made aware of the robbery by bank workers.
Shortly after the robbery, the police arrived forming a convoy of blue police cruisers along West Bay Street from the Marley property just beyond Casuarinas Hotel.
Chief Superintendent of Police Marvin Dames said that a team of uniformed and plain clothed officers closed off the area.
“They neutralized the area, they searched the area very methodically and the end result is the arrest of the person who we believe is the person responsible,” Mr. Dames said.
Calliope Papageorge and her sister, Irene Fondas, two residents of the area said in unison, “They got him and they got the gun too.”
Mrs. Papageorge said, “When I heard the slap, oh I said they got him so I ran over there and sure enough they had him.”
By Julian Reid, The Bahama Journal
