Police work through names in hunt for bank robber

Police investigating a spate of bank robberies are asking anyone who recognises this man to contact them.

Police hunting for an armed serial bank robber in Auckland are today sifting through about 10 names given to them by the public.

Detective Sergeant Andy King said he was pleased at an increased response to appeals for information to help police identity the man believed to be behind 13 robberies over the past six months.

"We've received quite a number of names in the past 24 hours and we're just working through that," he said.

"We're following them all up to eliminate them or put in the 'possibility' bin. There's probably about 10. Hopefully there's a lead there."

Police yesterday released a new image of the man they want to question over the bank raids, three of which occurred on Friday.

It was taken by a security camera at the ASB in Pt Chevalier, shortly after the man carried out his first raid of the day, an unsuccessful one at the BNZ at Auckland Airport.

Constable Neil Hilton said the man walked into ASB at Pt Chevalier and stood in a queue before asking the teller for a form to open an account. He left without opening the account.

He went instead to ASB in Dominion Rd, Mt Eden, which he tried to rob, again unsuccessfully.

Finally, he headed to the New Zealand Post building at Royal Oak, where he made off with an undisclosed amount of money.

Police were concerned the robber was becoming more and more aggressive, and on Friday showed a firearm to tellers.

- NZPA