Suspected Abdoun bank robber arrested, JD98,000 retrieved

AMMAN — Police on Monday arrested a suspect in connection with an armed robbery of a bank in Abdoun neighbourhood earlier in the day.

Police said they retrieved the JD98,000 that was stolen from the bank, Police Spokesperson Lt. Col. Amer Sartawi said.

The suspect allegedly entered the Etihad Bank's branch at 10:45am wearing a baseball cap and holding a gun, and demanded cash from the teller, Branch Manager Saed Haddadin said.

“The teller asked me to come over since my office is in the back of the bank but did not inform me why and, when I approached her, I saw the man waving a gun at me and demanding to get into the safe,” Haddadin, 32, told The Jordan Times.

The branch manager added that the suspect warned him that if he set off the alarm he would shoot him. “I immediately opened the safe and the robber went inside and took the cash,” Haddadin added.

“We are instructed by the bank management that employees’ safety comes first and not to resist an armed robber,” Haddadin explained.

The suspect then escaped from the bank, which is located in a busy market area, and took a taxi, the bank manager added.

Police Chief Maj. Gen. Ahmad Faqih and the director of the Criminal Investigations Department and other officers rushed to the scene and began collecting evidence and watching video footage,
Haddadin said.

“I gave them a full description of the suspect and they also went over video footage,” the branch manager added.

Haddadin said that he was notified by the police that “the entire amount was retrieved from the suspect”.

“We are really grateful for the police’s quick response and professional investigation that led to the arrest of the suspect and the retrieval of the stolen cash,” Haddadin said.

Sartawi said that “intensive investigations led the police to a suspect who was hiding in one of the houses in an eastern Amman neighbourhood and he was arrested without any major incident”. 

The police official added that investigators “found a gun on the suspect and referred him to the judiciary for further legal action”.

A video clip went viral purportedly showing the man entering a bank branch pointing what is believed to be a gun at a teller and a man who was later identified as the branch manager, then jumping over the counter and collecting money.

Said Mohammad, a guard working in a building opposite the bank, said “he rushed to the bank branch upon hearing that it was robbed”.

“Several guards and citizens in the area helped police by searching the area for the robber but we did not find anything.  We heard later that the suspect was arrested,” Mohammad told The Jordan Times.

The bank was closed for the day but will resume its business as usual on Tuesday, according to Haddadin.