Amman, May 1 -- Jordan on Wednesday sentenced four out of 16 defendants to 20 years in prison and imposed fines after convicting them of possessing weapons and explosives with the intent to carry out acts that endanger public safety, the state-run Petra news agency reported.

Jordan's State Security Court handed down the sentences in a public session, accusing the defendants of transporting the materials within the kingdom and concealing them in multiple locations to evade detection, according to Petra.

The defendants were arrested in mid-2023, and the explosives, weapons, and ammunition were seized during security operations carried out based on intelligence gathered about the suspects, according to Petra.

After the operations, the case...