DURHAM. N.C. — A masked man wearing what appeared to be a bomb strapped to his body robbed Wachovia Bank at 2821 Chapel Hill Boulevard Thursday afternoon, according to Durham police.

A short time later Durham police officers arrested a suspect in the parking lot of Triangle Rent A Car at 3730 Chapel Hill Road.

Officers then found what appeared to be an incendiary device and evacuated several nearby businesses. A bomb technician from the Durham County Sheriff's Office defused the device around 6:30 p.m. Thursday. No one was injured.

The incident started around 3:45 p.m. when a man dressed in black and wearing a black pantyhose mask over his face entered the bank and demanded cash from three tellers. The man put the money in a white bag and drove away in a 1987 Nissan 300ZX.

A Durham police officer spotted the car pulling into the Triangle Rent A Car parking lot a short time later. The driver, who was carrying a white bag, got out of the car, walked behind the business and tried to hide in another vehicle. The driver, Scott Alan Brewer of Sandridge Drive in Valrico, Florida, was taken into custody without major incident.

When officers opened the white bag, they saw what appeared to be an incendiary device. The bag contained a battery, electrical wires, a glass test tube, duct tape and a cannon fuse.

The Durham Fire Department, Durham County EMS and the Durham County Sheriff's Office responded to the scene to assist Durham police officers. As a safety precaution, officers evacuated all businesses within a 1,000-foot radius of the scene. Chapel Hill Boulevard was briefly closed to traffic while the device was defused. The device will be sent to the State Bureau of Investigation for further analysis.

Brewer, 36, was charged with robbery with a dangerous weapon, possession of a weapon of mass destruction and drug trafficking.