Police have arrested a man who grabbed a bag containing SR1.3 million from a bank employee as he was filling a cash machine with money in Riyadh.

The suspect, a Saudi national in his early thirties, was reported to have entered the ATM cubicle of a bank in the Al-Naseem district east of Riyadh as two workers were trying to load the machine with cash.

The thief, who grabbed the bag full of cash after threatening the workers with a pistol, fled the scene in a car, whose number plate was illegible.

Police later found the suspect at a house in a suburb based on circumstantial evidence and a description.

The police also found the stolen bag with the money. The suspect had spent SR740,000 from the stolen money to buy several cars from the local market, which police have since confiscated.

The Criminal Investigation Department is continuing investigation into the incident.