On Friday, 13 October detectives from South Australia Police Serious and Organised Crime Branch attached to Operation Coy arrested a 73 year old O’Sullivan’s Beach man for 10 aggravated robberies using a firearm and one attempted aggravated robbery using a firearm.

He will appear in the Adelaide Magistrates Court on Monday 16 October.

Operation Coy was initiated in 2004 to investigate a series of 10 bank robberies, and one attempted bank robbery across country South Australia that occurred between 2004 and 2014.

The robberies included the ANZ Bank at Yankalilla on Thursday 14 December 2006 and again on Friday 14 September 2007; and Bank SA Willunga on Friday 26 June 2009.

The Officer in Charge of the Serious and Organised Crime Branch, Detective Superintendent Billy Thompson, says the arrest was part of an almost 20 year investigation, during which investigators left no stone unturned and importantly never gave up.

“Over the course of a decade, it is alleged this person committed 10 significant bank robberies, stealing substantial amounts of cash,” Detective Superintendent Thompson says.

“Police identified connections between the robberies early in the investigation and established Operation Coy, since that time detectives attached to Operation Coy have been painstaking in their investigations, seizing on every opportunity to advance the investigation and identify a suspect.

"The arrest on Friday is a direct result of all the collective work over the last 19 years.

“This investigation is a credit to all those involved and shows that SAPOL will be relentless in our search for the truth.”