One of the terrorists holding people hostage at Sydney’s Lindt Chocolat Café has made contact with the police demanding that he speak with Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott and stating that he has devices all over the city, says presenter Ray Hadley from 2GB radio station.

Mr. Hadley has had three telephone conversations with one of the hostages being held inside the café while the gunman issued demands in the background. The hostage asked to be allowed to broadcast on air but the host refused, stating he did not have the expertise to deal with the situation. “There are some people who are not well. They’ve been in there for five hours, they’re distraught,” he said. “I’m not in a position to comply with requests that have been made, I can’t. The media can’t play a role in negotiating with people purporting to be from Islamic State holding hostages in a café in Sydney.”

Meanwhile, it is estimated that as many as 50 people are being held hostage at Sydney’s Lindt Chocolat Café. They are experiencing chilling moments according to footage that has captured a gesture of one woman appearing to run her thumb across her throat. Australia’s Channel Nine reports that the hostage may have been directed to make the gesture by the gunman who stormed into the café at 9.45 a.m. on Monday morning, taking the patrons hostage.

Shortly after the gunmen took control of the cafeteria, the terrorists forced two crying women to hold a black Islamic Shahada flag with white words stating “There is no God but Allah and Mohammed is the messenger of God.” The flag belongs to the Jabhat al-Nusra extremist group of Syria.

An Australian delivery man told the Telegraph that the gunman was quite tall, in his late 40s, wearing a long white-sleeved T-shirt and a black vest. He said that he saw the customers sitting at their tables, still drinking, not alert to what was going on as they were being locked into the café.

Five people managed to flee. The first development came when three men were seen running from a fire exit. Shortly afterward, two women sprinted from the café and into the arms of the police. Staff members arriving for work just after the siege saw their colleagues pressed against the window and locked in. “I didn’t get a good look at them,” says Nathan Grivas whose shift was about to start shortly after the siege. “As soon as I saw the gun, all I wanted to do was get out.” The streets surrounding the central café at Martin Place have been shut down and planes have been diverted from the city center. The iconic Opera House has been evacuated following the reports of a suspicious device.