RALEIGH - The FBI says two men who held up a branch of First Citizens Bank in North Raleigh on Thursday morning are wanted in four states in connection with seven other bank holdups.

The two "Interstate Bandits," as the FBI referred to them in a news release, vaulted the counter just after 10:15 a.m. and grabbed money from the cash drawers of the bank at 4801 Capital Blvd. They shoved several people during the robbery, but no one was injured.

Raleigh police reported that no weapons were seen or implied. After wresting an undisclosed amount of money from the tellers' cash drawers, the two men ran from the bank on foot. Investigators think the bandits hopped into an unknown vehicle and sped off from the area, but some of the money taken during the robbery was recovered outside the bank, police reported.

The two are suspected in seven bank robberies that have occurred since May 8 at banks in towns along interstate highways in North Carolina, Virginia, Tennessee and Alabama, according to the FBI. The North Carolina robberies took place in Huntersville, Cary, Concord and Raleigh.

Although no one was seriously injured during the holdup Thursday morning, investigators said the men are becoming more violent in each robbery.

The robbers are described as both being about 25 to 30 years old. The photos of the two black men taken by a bank surveillance camera show a man with a close, neat haircut wearing a long-sleeved white T-shirt and dark athletic shorts with white trim and white athletic shoes with dark stripes.

The second man has a medium build with a short haircut. He was wearing a white, short-sleeve polo-type shirt with dark stripes.

Anyone with information that might lead to arrests is asked to call the Charlotte Field Office of the FBI at (704) 377-9200 or 911.

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