Police arrest suspect ‘involved in dozens of robberies’

AMMAN — Police on Wednesday announced the arrest of a “dangerous suspect” who reportedly committed dozens of armed robberies recently.

The suspect was apprehended in an east Amman suburb following a shoot-out with a special police unit that was dispatched to arrest him on Wednesday, Public Security Department (PSD) Spokesperson Maj. Amer Sartawi said.

“No one was injured in the raid of his hideout, but the suspect put up a lot of resistance,” Sartawi told The Jordan Times, adding that police also retrieved the weapon reportedly used in the shoot-out.

The PSD official said the special police unit was formed to track down the suspect who was armed and dangerous and had “committed several robberies” including one last week of a money exchange shop in the capital’s Marj Al Hamam suburb.

The shop, which was broken into four days ago, was robbed of JD100,000 in cash, computers and the surveillance camera system “so that they would not be identified by police”, Sartawi said.

The suspect also confessed to robbing dozens of other places with the help of two men, the PSD official added.

Police are questioning the suspect to determine the whereabouts of the stolen items and cash, according to Sartawi.

“The suspect is still being questioned to find out what he did with the stolen goods and to try to identify his accomplices and arrest them.”