Arrest (illustrative)
Arrest (illustrative)Thinkstock

Jordan confirmed on Friday that it had arrested two Israelis and a Briton, saying they were suspected of involvement in fraud and counterfeiting currency.

A security official told the AFP news agency that the men, arrested by security services Wednesday, are "being detained in a hotel, and not jail, for their own safety."

The official did not explain why they might be in danger.

"Investigations are still underway," he said, without elaborating on the details of the suspected crimes or the identities of the men.

A spokeswoman for the Israeli foreign ministry said they were aware two Israelis had been arrested.

"We are familiar with the incident; we are in contact with the families and the authorities," Ilana Stein told AFP, without providing further details.

The British embassy was not immediately available for comment.

Reports about the arrests of the two Israelis first surfaced on Thursday, but it was not clear at the time what they had been detained for.

Just last Tuesday, Israel arrested a Jordanian-U.S. dual citizen in Jerusalem. The man had fled the U.S. to Jordan and Palestinian Authority (PA) controlled areas, after being given a 24-year sentence in Illinois in 2005 for shooting fellow motorists in the Chicago streets.

The United States had recently requested that Israel extradite the wanted man.

(Arutz Sheva’s North American Desk is keeping you updated until the start of Shabbat in New York. The time posted automatically on all Arutz Sheva articles, however, is Israeli time.)