Dubai: A total of 81 vehicles with no licence plates were seized after their owners were found to be taking part in illegal races, driving up to speeds of 300km/h on a number of external roads, most commonly on Al Aweer and Ras Al Khor roads, Dubai Police said on Saturday.
Major General Khamis Mattar Al Mazeina, Dubai Police Chief, said the owners of the seized vehicles had organised the races in a way that endangered the lives of other motorists and pedestrians.
“They purposely were driving with no licence plates so patrol officers wouldn’t be able to identify the vehicles and owners,” he said, adding that passers-by informed the police which led to the mass seizure of cars.
Maj Gen Al Mazeina said the matter was handled delicately as police wanted to ensure the motorists would not act erratically, causing mayhem on the streets. “A correspondence between patrol units and our operations department was necessary to handle the issue efficiently and without letting things get out of hand,” he said, adding that officers assigned to the case were put in a dangerous position as many of the cars were driving without headlights and at “extremely high speeds”.
“They repeatedly performed stunts, endangering our officers’ lives as they were monitoring the vehicles, attempting to identify them. The drivers unexpectedly swerved off the road, some collided with each other as they were driving at extremely high speeds with their headlights switched off,” he said, adding that there are repercussions for those attempting to flee from patrol officers.
The police chief also said that it was illegal to modify vehicles without the necessary permits. “The law also prohibits drivers from making excessive noise and modifying their vehicles with lights and other after-market parts that could endanger others on the road.”
