Masked man robs Wellington bank

Police have released this image of the robber.

A man armed with a shotgun has made off with an undisclosed amount of cash from a Wellington bank today.

The robbery took place around 12pm when the man, wearing a Halloween mask, entered a BNZ bank on Oxford St demanding money, police said.

Staff at the Tawa branch handed over a small amount of money, while alerting police to the incident.

There were no customers in the bank at the time.

The man then fled the scene in a dark blue 1996 Mazda Astina 323, registration UI4189. The car was found abandoned a short time later by police, who have brought it in for forensic examination.

"Our focus is on identifying and locating this man as soon as possible," Detective Senior Sergeant Warwick McKee said.

"While we don't know if the weapon was loaded, the potential for someone to be badly hurt was certainly there."

Police were following some "very promising leads", he said.

"We are appealing to the public for any assistance they can provide as witnesses to the robbery or if they have any information about the person shown in the CCTV images from the bank," he said.

"The bank tellers who were confronted by the man are being offered support and are being interviewed by police."

The armed man was described as medium height and wearing a red hooded sweatshirt with dark coloured trousers. The mask he was wearing had long black hair attached with a Halloween-type red disfigured face.

Anyone with information is asked to contact Wellington District Crime Squad on 04 381 2077, or anonymously contact Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111.