This is 7 News Network and we bring you breaking news of a bank robbery downtown.
The First World Bank has just been struck by what is believed to be the greatest heist in recent years.
Only hours ago, just before the lunch-hour rush, four men entered the bank building through the main doors posing as bank customers.
The accomplices, who have yet to be identified by the police, were heavily armed and managed to remain undetected by bank security.
Having located the bank manager, they forced him to relinquish a server room skeleton key.
Security forces are unwilling to comment at this point, but inside sources indicate that the manager may have sustained fatal injuries during the robbery.
In this server room, inside what appears to be a hollow photocopier, an unknown accomplice had hidden drilling equipment, as well as several canisters of what sources describe as 'thermite' - a chemical compound commonly used by elite military units to break through hardened metal surfaces.
The drilling equipment was then used to force the locks of the gate blocking the way to the underground high-security vault area.
Having gained access to the vault area, the four accomplices proceeded to ignite the thermite in a space directly above the storage vault.
While the robbers emptied the vault of an unknown amount of cash, security forces arrived, surrounding the building and cutting off all access and escape routes.
At this point, it was believed the bank robbers, who held hostage several bank customers and officials, would try to initiate negotiations with the authorities.
Instead, they executed what appears to be a carefully designed escape plan.
Using plastic explosives, the robbers blew a hole in an interior wall, creating a concealed escape route via an adjacent office building into an unmonitored stairwell.
Police and forensics are still examining data, but concede there are currently no leads on the escaped assailants.