Arrested bank heist suspect is allegedly porcelain-masked robber

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By Mike Morris and Ty Tagami

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

The bank robbery suspect who was arrested early Thursday in DeKalb County is the man who robbed an Atlanta bank Tuesday while wearing a porcelain doll mask, authorities say.

Federal Bureau of Investigation A surveillance camera shows a man wearing a porcelain doll-type facemask.

Federal Bureau of Investigation The FBI says this man robbed a Chase bank Tuesday, Sept. 7, at 3330 Piedmont Road, in Atlanta, after putting on a mask.

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The robber's big mistake: He donned the mask after a surveillance camera got clear shots of his face.

Abdul Khaliq Amin, 52, was arrested after an FBI SWAT team raided a Decatur residence where he was staying, said Atlanta's FBI special agent in charge, Brian D. Lamkin. Amin was located with the help of a tip from someone who saw the surveillance photos on a local television news program.

The arrest occurred around 7:30 a.m. in a neighborhood off Glenwood Road just inside I-285, FBI spokesman Stephen Emmett told the AJC.

Amin is accused of robbing the Chase Bank at 3330 Piedmont Road while armed with a semi-automatic handgun. The robber was wearing a porcelain mask when he brandished the gun, announced the robbery and jumped over the teller counter and seized wads of cash, Lamkin said.

The robber donned the mask as he entered the bank--after a camera in the bank's ATM took two detailed pictures of a scruffy-bearded man with eyeglasses, Lamkin said.

Amin will have his initial court appearance before a U.S. magistrate judge in Atlanta Thursday afternoon.