Citizens help arrest bank robber in Amman

AMMAN — Security personnel on Thursday arrested the suspect who allegedly robbed a local bank at gunpoint in Amman's Sport's City area, the Jordan News Agency, Petra, reported.

The suspect allegedly fired shots inside the bank, took a sum of money at gunpoint and then fled the scene. 

A video that went viral on the Internet purportedly showed people chasing the suspect and beating him. In a statement, the police source praised the “remarkable role of citizens that contributed to the arrest of the suspect” without referring to the lynching. 

A security source said that JD44, 968 and $25,025 of stolen money were seized from the suspect and the investigations were still ongoing in preparation to refer the case to the public prosecutor of the State Security Court (SSC).

The source added that the suspect who has a criminal record has confessed to planning and committing the crime. 

Meanwhile in Zarqa, Criminal Investigation Department (CID) personnel arrested three suspects who allegedly committed the robbery that took place at a Post Office in Duleil, 90km east of Amman, on Wednesday morning.

CID was able to identify the three suspects, including one of the staff at the post office, and the full amount of stolen money was returned, according to a security source.

The source pointed out that Zarqa police received a tip on Wednesday that a man in woman's outfit stormed the post office and robbed JD24, 000 at gunpoint before fleeing in a vehicle with another person waiting for the suspect and a woman, who was not identified.

The source said that after the suspects were arrested, the amount of seized money was JD22, 321, as well as the weapon.

In a related development, security forces in Irbid arrested on Thursday a suspect in the robbery of JD18,000 from a citizen in Irbid who had withdrawn the amount from a bank on 30th Street, the Jordan News Agency, Petra, reported. 

A source from the Irbid Police Department said that an investigative team of Public Security officers and the Criminal Investigation Unit were able to gather sufficient information on the suspect, and arrested him in less than 24 hours in the Hussein region during his attempt to flee, according to Petra. 

A wave of bank and other robberies has been reported, coinciding with price hikes that followed a government’s decision to lift subsidies on bread and dozens of commodities.