Best criminal disguises of 2010

* A white bank robber is alleged to have attempted to fool US police by wearing a Hollywood special effects mask and gloves that disguised him as a black man. According to police reports, Conrad Zdzierak, 30, is alleged to have used the £450 silicon mask in an audacious string of six bank robberies in Ohio. Five of the robberies took place on the same day, April 9. Police in Springdale, Ohio released CCTV footage from the banks, appealing for public help in finding what they believed was an African-American male.

* An Asian male disguised himself as an elderly white man using a silicone mask and successfully board a flight from Hong Kong to Canada. The unnamed man boarded the Vancouver-bound flight on October 29. At some point during the flight, he went into the bathroom and took his mask off, emerging as the young, Asian man. Authorities said they were tipped off by the man’s hands, which looked too young compared to the rest of him.

* An armed robber was hunted by police after dressing as the Star Wars movie character Darth Vader during a bizarre raid on a New York bank in broad daylight. Police said the bandit entered the Chase bank branch on Long Island, brandishing a semi-automatic pistol before demanding money from staff. CCTV footage released by police showed the 6ft 2in gunman dressed as the Star Wars bad guy, with a costume complete with mask, dark cape and camouflage trousers. Customers and bank staff initially thought the raid was a joke, with one witness thinking the costume was so amusing he starting joking with the bandit.

* A man was being hunted by police in October after he raided a bookies in a Power Rangers disguise. The masked raider struck at the William Hill bookmakers in Sacriston, County Durham. He threatened two female staff members before making off with cash. The women were unharmed but left in shock after their ordeal. The robber, described as 5ft 2ins and 5ft 4ins tall, was wearing a blue tracksuit with a white stripe across the chest and a blue hood. His Power Rangers mask was silver grey below the nose and around the neck, and black above it.

* Then a more simple 'disguise'. Police in California were in April trying to track down an elderly man who has robbed seven banks in the San Diego area. The grey-haired man, nicknamed the "Geezer bandit", waited patiently in line before approaching a bank teller at the California Bank and Trust teller in Vista, showing his handgun and passing over a note demanding cash. The FBI said that the teller handed over an undisclosed number of notes, which the placed in his personal organiser, and then calmly walked out of the bank. Believed to be in his seventies, the man wears prescription glasses and a baseball cap during the heists. He was described as roughly 5ft 10ins tall. It is not known if he was caught.