A Zimbabwe national living in the United States of America, Boston area was arrested on Friday as he tried to flee on a flight bound for South Africa over a string over bank robberies.
Albert Taderera, 36, of Brighton, is believed to be the notorious ‘incognito bandit’ who robbed 16 banks in the Boston area while wearing a dark hoodie, dark gloves, and a face mask or sunglasses.
He carried out the bank jobs between February 2015 and March 2017.
In most of the cases the ‘Incognito Bandit’ would be wearing a dark hoodie along with a face mask, sunglasses and gloves.
The robber would always make verbal demands for the money and then threaten tellers with a black semi-automatic handgun.
There was also something else in common with the robberies in that the banks would all be located in the suburbs, near wooded areas through which the robber could come and then make his escape.
Taderera was apprehended at Dulles International Airport in Virginia on Friday morning as he was about to leave the country.
The FBI had to act fast. They only learned of Taderera’s imminent departure on Thursday night.
Initially he was supposed to take a morning flight to Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, but then it became clear he had switched his ticket to take an evening plane to Johannesburg, South Africa.
Just as he was about to board the flight, Taderera was arrested.
Last year, the FBI doubled the reward leading to the bandit’s capture to $20,000 after becoming concerned about his ‘increasingly brazen and violent behavior.’
The net finally began to close in on Taderera when earlier this month Concord, Massachusetts Police saw a black BMW sedan outside a local bank, noting that it matched the description of the person responsible for the 16 robberies.
Police saw the BMW’s registration was revoked and had it was towed.
When Taderera called the tow company one week later, he was informed that his car was now in police custody.
Sources: agencies
