Hostages have been strapped to the outside of cars as human shields while criminals are thought to have robbed every bank in a Brazilian city centre.
A video shows as many as 50 criminals with assault rifles speeding through Araçatuba city with civilian hostages strapped to their cars.
The armed gang members robbed at least one bank in the early hours of Monday, August 30, although it is believed they may have robbed every bank in the southern Brazilian city.
Criminals tied locals to the roofs and hoods of their cars as hostages. Video footage also shows them forcing people to walk along a road, with a gun pointing at them.
It is not yet known if anyone has been injured, reports the MailOnline.
The events started unfolding at around midnight local time.
A heavily armed gang carried out the robbery - or robberies - before taking around 10 civilians as hostages.
G1, a local news site, has reported that the criminals used drones to keep an eye on police activity from the air.
They then surrounded the local military police station and blocked key entrances to the city by setting vehicles alight there, to prevent further reinforcements coming in to stop them.
A video, filmed from above, shows a white vehicle driving along the road with one hostage strapped to the top of it, lying face down, and another hostage on the bonnet.
Another vehicle follows behind, this time with a hostage on the bonnet of the car.
A second video, filmed from a different angle, this time at ground level, shows several vehicles driving along with hostages strapped to them.
In this video, from what can be seen, eight vehicles have hostages strapped to them.
A couple of these vehicles clearly had two hostages strapped to them at the same time.
While it's currently unclear how much money has been stolen in the robbery, some witness videos show bank notes being collected in the street by a local.
Many residents said they heard explosion and gunfire sounds. What sounds very much like gunshot or explosion sounds can also be heard in the video of hostages on the cars.
The mayor of Araçatuba, Dilador Borges, told Band TV: "The police can't go on the attack, they can't confront them because there are too many lives on the line."
He urged local people to stay inside due to concerns the robbers have put explosives around the city.
Unsure whether the criminals have freed the hostages yet, he said security forces have now regained control over the centre of Araçatuba.
This isn't the first time Araçatuba has been a target of bank robbers.
Criminals carried out a similar attack in 2017, blocking roads and even attacking police stations as part of the raid.
These robberies, which are meticulously planned, are actually a widely-known phenomenon in Brazil.
Known as 'New Cangaço' by Brazilians, the name is linked to the attacks of small to medium-sized cities that used to take place all over the country in the 1920s and 1930s.
Banks along with firms that are storing or transporting valuable items are the main targets.
The raids often follow a similar pattern, with dozens of heavily armed criminals getting involved in one attack.
