Four arrested for alleged robbery of delivery driver in Balqa

AMMAN — Police on Wednesday said that four suspects were arrested almost two weeks ago in connection with the alleged robbery of a delivery driver in the Balqa governorate.

The delivery driver complained to police that he was “threatened and robbed by unknown individuals while in the process of making a delivery”, according to Police Spokesperson Lt. Col. Amer Sartawi.

“The victim told investigators that the suspects attacked him, and then forced him to head to an ATM to withdraw money from his account,” Sartawi told The Jordan Times.

The police official added that following thorough investigation, “investigators were able to arrest the suspects shortly after the alleged robbery took place”.

Sartawi added that the suspects are currently being questioned by the prosecution office over the alleged incident.

All four suspects were ordered to be detained at a correctional and rehabilitation centre pending further investigation.

In January, lawyers said that the relevant courts were inflicting stiff punishments against robbery and aggravated assault cases, and especially cases of assault involving delivery drivers.

In some instances, lawyers told The Jordan Times in recent interviews, the courts have sentenced defendants with the maximum punishment for theft and assault — up to 15 years in prison.  

The Kingdom has witnessed several robberies and assaults to delivery drivers from 2021 through this year.

One of the attacks turned bloody in November 2021, when a delivery driver suffered deep lacerations to his fingers, allegedly inflicted by several suspects in the Marj Al Hammam area in Amman.

The number of aggravated assaults in the Kingdom in 2020 reached 658, according to Public Security Directorate’s (PSD) statistics from 2020.

Meanwhile, reported criminal and misdemeanour thefts in the same year totalled 10,953, according to the PSD statistics.