Plastic gun robbery attempt aborted in Gardens

AMMAN — Police on Thursday said they aborted an attempt to rob a money exchange shop in a busy street in Amman on Wednesday night.

A hooded man entered Al Alawneh Money Exchange Shop located in Wasfi Tel street in Gardens at around 10:30pm and reportedly “waved a weapon later determined to be made of plastic and demanded cash”, Police Spokesperson Lt. Col. Sartawi said.

“We were able to abort a robbery with the help of the security guard and shop employees and discovered that the suspect was carrying a fake weapon,” Sartawi told The Jordan Times.

The police official said the suspect will be referred to the concerned authorities for further questioning and indictment.

The owner of Al Alawneh Exchange Shop Ayman Alawneh told The Jordan Times that no one was injured in the incident.

“We were lucky that the guard at our shop reacted quickly and controlled the man with the help of our employees while the police arrived within minutes from sounding the alarm and contributed in arresting him,” Alawneh told said.

He added that the teller handed the suspect JD10,000 and $12,000 but all was retrieved on the spot.

A video went viral allegedly showing a hooded man standing at the door of the shop while pointing a weapon at a man standing in front of him with his hands up.

This is the sixth reported attack on a financial institute in Jordan over the past two months.      

Five banks were robbed in various parts of Amman in January, February and April. Four of the five robbers were arrested and one, who escaped with JD98,000 in cash, remains at large.