Alleged robber spotted at one-armed bandit

Security-camera footage shows the armed raid underway in Orewa on Monday morning. Photo / Supplied

Orewa's one-armed bandit has apparently been caught out by his own kind.

Police say the one-armed man, who was pictured on camera helping to rob a brasserie at gunpoint, was spotted feeding a large amount of cash into pokies at a local tavern the next night.

He was arrested yesterday and will face court today on charges of aggravated robbery and possession of methamphetamine.

The accused was caught after the Herald published an image of a masked man holding a loot bag while his similarly disguised accomplice pointed a rifle at the Creoles Bar and Brasserie in Orewa on the Hibiscus Coast.

Minutes later, the pair took off in a purple Holden Commodore with what police described as "a significant amount of money".

The hold-up - during which two staff and two off-site consultants were dragged into a kitchen, thrown to the floor and had a gun held to their faces - occurred about 8.45am on Monday.

The next night, at a local tavern, a man was seen feeding a significant amount of money into the gaming machines and the penny dropped.

Detective Mark Palma of the Rodney CIB said Orewa was a small district where "people know each other" and word had got around.

"They [people at the tavern] were aware that one of the offenders from the Creoles robbery was one-armed so they paid particular attention when one person appeared to be spending up large on Tuesday evening," he said.

The description of the man also fitted the bill and security footage showed what appeared to be the same person entering the tavern's foyer.

"There's a very limited number of people who are one-armed holding up a bar who subsequently end up spending a large amount of money in another bar with pokies," Mr Palma told the Weekend Herald.

He would not say how police tracked the one-armed man to a Makarau address yesterday or whether his accomplice had also been caught playing pokies on Tuesday.

Police are still hunting another man - described as a male Maori or Pacific Islander of stocky build in his mid-20s to mid-30s - for the robbery.

* Anyone with information can contact Orewa police on (09) 427-4532 or Crime Stoppers on 0800-555-111.