Phnom Penh  - Armed robbers committed a brazen afternoon stickup outside a bank and made off with an estimated 50,000 dollars, in one of the biggest robberies of its kind in the country's history, police said Tuesday.

A Daun Penh district police source said the thieves took the cash at gunpoint in broad daylight at around lunchtime as the customer left Acleda Bank, a major bank in the Cambodian capital.

Last year, members of an Indonesian-led ring were jailed for robbing wealthy-looking bank clients by flattening their car tyres and following them until they were forced to get out of the vehicle.

But police said the haul in Tuesday's robbery exceeded any of those, and was not believed to be linked. The robbers remained at large. (dpa)