Updated at 1.20pm
A hooded man with a gun in his hand tried to rob a bank in Żejtun in broad daylight on Wednesday morning, but fled the scene empty-handed and was arrested a short while later.
The attempted hold-up of an HSBC branch was reported at around 11.15am, the police said.
In a statement, the police said that the suspect was a 76-year-old hooded man armed with a gun.
Sources said bank workers hit an alarm bell after the man demanded money from cashiers. The alarm alerted police and automatically blocked off access to the cashiers' area.
The suspect fled using a getaway car, only to be caught a short while later.
Nobody was injured.