A B.C. man has been arrested and charged in connection with a violent robbery and explosion that injured two security guards at an Edmonton bank in December.

Justin David Byron, 38, faces a total of 16 charges for that robbery and another two months earlier at a different bank in the city.

Byron, from Salmon Arm, B.C., was arrested Monday, March 4, after arriving at the Edmonton International Airport.

He has been charged with two counts each of robbery with a firearm, attempted robbery, disguise with intent, and possession of an explosive material and four counts each of aggravated assault and using an explosive device.

He remains in custody and is scheduled to appear in court on March 15.

Edmonton police believe Byron was planning another attack before he was arrested.

That theory was based on evidence found during a search of his home in B.C., and also "based on his behaviour when he was in Edmonton," Staff Sgt. Rob Mills of the Edmonton Police Service robbery section said Tuesday.

"Those attacks would have placed the armoured-guard employees at risk and we believe his arrest prevented that next attack."

Mills described the explosives used in the attacks as improvised explosive devices or IEDs

Sgt. Rob Mills, of the EPS Robbery Section, answered questions about the investigation that led to a 38-year-old man of Salmon Arm, B.C. being charged in relation to armoured guard robberies and explosions. (Sam Martin/CBC)

Two security officers were injured by an early morning explosion on Dec. 13, 2018, during an armed robbery inside the Scotiabank branch at 8140 160th Ave. One suffered hearing loss caused by the explosion.

The officers were delivering money to an ATM at about 2:10 a.m. when an explosive device was detonated, police said at the time.

There was a confrontation between a suspect and one of the guards. The suspect, who was armed and wearing a disguise, ran from the scene with "money in hand," police said.

The guards, a man and a woman employed by GardaWorld, were taken to hospital with non-life-threatening injuries.

Two months earlier, an improvised explosive device detonated inside the vestibule of a southwest Edmonton bank.

No one was injured in that explosion and no money was taken, police said at the time.

Guards had just arrived at the bank on Sept. 19 "to perform their regular duties" when a loud bang startled them, police said.

Patrol officers responded at about 1:40 a.m. to a 911 call from the bank near 27th Avenue SW and 141st Street.

Paramedics treated and transported the bank guards to hospital for precautionary reasons only, police said.

A Gardaworld spokesperson declined comment, explaining that the organization does not comment on active investigations or matters before the courts.