Southern California -- home of the high-speed freeway chase -- was the scene of a different kind of pursuit Friday afternoon: one that reached speeds of zero mph.

Thanks to "some type of tracking device" hidden in a bag of stolen money, authorities were able to locate bank robbers on the northbound 110 Freeway in Los Angeles, halt traffic and conduct a car-to-car search, said Deputy Albert Martinez of the Riverside County Sheriff's Department.

"The trackers out there are pretty accurate," said Martinez.

Hundreds of cars were backed up in the Hawthorne area near Manchester Avenue around 1 p.m. local time, as police officers on foot waded through a sea of vehicles.

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Aerial video showed at least two people being taken into custody (pictured below). By 1:20 p.m., the freeway was reopened and traffic was returning to normal levels.

The search was believed to be linked to an armed bank robbery in Moreno Valley, Calif., earlier in the day. At least three masked men robbed the Altura Credit Union at 12125 Day St. in Moreno Valley around 9:20 a.m. local time, police said.

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FBI via AP

Surveillance photos provided by the FBI's St. Louis office show a serial bank robber dubbed the Bucket List Bandit on, from left, June 21, June 27 and July 6. Michael Eugene Brewster, 54, was arrested Thursday night after a traffic stop in Roland, Okla., the FBI said.

A suspect in a series of bank robberies that earned the perpetrator the nickname "Bucket List Bandit" is under arrest after a routine traffic stop by Roland, Okla., police, the FBI announced Friday.

Michael Eugene Brewster, 54, of Pensacola, Fla., was arrested Thursday, police said. Brewster is wanted in at least 10 bank robberies from Flagstaff, Ariz., to Erie, Pa., where a teller picked out his photo from a lineup after a Monday heist, the FBI said.

The suspect earned the nickname "Bucket List Bandit" after he allegedly passed a Roy, Utah, bankteller a note on July 6 saying he had only four months to live, the FBI said.

Roland Assistant Police Chief David Goode told NBC News he arrested Brewster after he ran a stop sign Thursday night in the town of about 3,000 just west of Fort Smith, Ark.

“Subsequent to the stop, red flags were raised,” Goode said.

He said he could not go into too many specifics.

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“I placed him under arrest unrelated to the bank robbery,” Goode said.

Brewster was driving a car reported stolen from Pensacola, Goode said. “That was just another charge,” he said.

After Brewster was taken into custody, police learned Brewster “could have been possibly involved in more serious crimes,” Goode said.

The FBI told The Associated Press that besides Flagstaff, Roy and Erie, Brewster was wanted in connection with robberies in Pocatello, Idaho; Winston-Salem, N.C.; Chattanooga, Tenn.; Bloomington, Ill.; Columbia and O'Fallon, Mo., and Arvada, Colo., the Denver suburb where his alleged crime spree began.

The agency had issued a nationwide appeal for the public’s help in finding the serial bank robbery suspect.

After the Erie robbery, a confidential informant called to give agents Brewster's name and birth date after recognizing his picture in media accounts, the FBI told the AP. A federal warrant doesn't say how the person knew that information.

Investigators haven't said whether they've confirmed if Brewster is terminally ill.

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The federal warrant doesn't identify Brewster’s hometown, but indicates he's wanted for borrowing a black Chevy Captiva from a woman in Pensacola on June 11 and not returning it. The vehicle was similar to one described by witnesses at several of the robberies.

No one has been hurt in any of the robberies and officials aren't saying how much money was taken, except for $4,080 from the Erie bank, which was disclosed in the FBI arrest warrant.

This article includes reporting by NBC's Jim Gold and The Associated Press.

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Updated at 12:04 a.m. ET: Two men wearing ski masks kidnapped a bank employee in Huntington Park, held her overnight, attached a supposed bomb to her and then had her rob an East Los Angeles bank, according to the LA County Sheriff's Department.

Images: Device detonated at East LA bank

The female victim, who was being questioned by detectives, is an employee of the bank, authorities confirmed late Wednesday morning.

She was abducted from her home in Huntington Park on Tuesday, LASD Capt. Mike Parker said.

"She was held against her will until the morning," he said. "At about 8:30 this morning, she was at the bank. It is unclear at this moment whether she was brought to the bank or drove herself here."

"She went into the bank, and she told another employee or employees that she had this device attached to her, and that she was demanded by the robbers to (get) the money from the bank and throw it outside," Parker said.

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The SWAT force, bomb squad, sheriff's deputies, and the fire department responded to the Bank of America branch, located at 941 Atlantic Blvd. (map).

Aerial video showed a deputy removing a small, dark-colored object from the bank and placing it along a street curb. Shortly after, a bomb-squad robot was sent into the area.

At 9:30 a.m., an armored member of the bomb squad surrounded the device with what appeared to be sand bags. At 9:45 a.m., the robot fired a projectile into the device (see images). An apparent shell casing was discharged from the robot.

Investigators do not believe the device posed a threat to the employee, Lt. Neal Mongan with Huntington Park Police said during a news conference Wednesday night.

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A robot fires a projectile into a device outside a bank in East Los Angeles. Authorities suspected the device might be an explosive.

The robot was then moved to a nearby parking lot to inspect the area.

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Authorities are still searching for the two alleged robbers. Earlier reports noted the men fled in a Kia, possibly white, but late Wednesday authorities said they could not confirm a suspect-vehicle description. At least one of the suspects had a gun.

A statement released by Bank of America read: "The safety and security of our employees and customers are our highest priority, and we are working closely with law enforcement on this matter."

"Because this is an active investigation, we defer to the LA County Sheriff's Department what details to be made public at this time," the statement read. 

The bank would not confirm the woman's employment status. It is now referring all questions to law enforcement.

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