Man tries to rob bank by phone

Police have made an arrest after a man rang a bank manager demanding money two days after robbing the same south Auckland bank.

The accused man, who was located last night, will appear in court today on charges of aggravated robbery and demanding with menaces, Detective Sergeant John Love said.

He has also been charged with the unlawful taking of a Ford Falcon car that was in his possession.

Mr Love said police tracked him down after tracing telephone calls that were made to the bank.

Police said yesterday that the Kiwi Bank branch at Flat Bush was robbed on Wednesday afternoon, when the offender got away with a small amount of money.

The offender rang the bank manager yesterday asking for a meeting and for the manager to take a brown paper bag of money with him.

The meeting was to have been about 50m from the branch, which is on Dawson Rd, but the caller rang back to say he was uncomfortable with the location.

He then asked for a meeting about a kilometre away in Othello Dr, but didn't turn up.

Mr Love said the money taken on Wednesday had not been recovered.

- NZPA