A wheelchair-bound 63-year-old Whitby man is under arrest after allegedly robbing a bank.

"In my policing career, I've not come across anything like this," Sgt. Nancy Van Rooy of Durham Regional Police told ctvtoronto.ca on Friday.

According to Durham Regional Police, the man showed up early Thursday afternoon at a TD Bank branch at 80 Thickson Rd. in Whitby.

He approached a bank employee.

"The suspect stated he would blow up the branch with explosives strapped to his wheelchair," police said Friday in a news release.

"The suspect was given an undisclosed amount of cash and fled the scene in his wheelchair. "

Police arrested the man at his residence, which was nearby. They released him Friday on an "officer in charge" order, putting on a number of conditions, Van Rooy said.

The money was recovered and the man did not have explosives strapped to his electric wheelchair, she said.

The suspect does not appear to have any psychological issues, she said.

He has been in a wheelchair for about five years due to a medical condition, but doesn't suffer from any type of paralysis, she said.

While it's an unusual and even funny story in some ways, "it's a sad story too," Van Rooy said.