A group of Facebook friends were arrested for riding motorcycles on the High Level Road in a reckless manner based on telephone calls received on the emergency police number 119.
Residents in the area had informed the police emergency unit that a large crowd of young motorcyclists had gathered from the Tango board junction of the High Level Road in the Maharagama Police Division to the Parami Kulatunga Mawatha, who were riding their bikes in a careless manner and engaging in dangerous stunts and noise pollution.
Maharagama Police OIC, CI J. C. Rajapakse who took immediate action, together with officers from the crime and traffic division had launched a joint operation and arrested 35 suspects and 11 types of motorbikes at about 3 am yesterday (19). Police said that this group of about 200 youths had gathered at this place yesterday morning by advertising on the Facebook that such a competition would be held. Police said that local residents had complained that due to the loud noise, the residents of the area who were sleeping at night had become very distressed.
Maharagama police said that the seized motorcycles had been fixed in such a way that they could emit loud noises and travel in a dangerous manner and eleven persons who were riding these motorcycles and 26 persons who had come to watch the race were arrested.
Police said that preliminary investigations revealed that the competition was conducted on the basis of bets for money and that the young people who came to this place were between the ages of 15 and 25 and were residents of different parts of the country. They also stated that a racket was under way during the competition of selling their motorbikes for the highest price.
The police said that when the operation was launched and the motorcyclists were about to be arrested, some of the motorcyclists were engaged in actions such as riding the motorcycle on one wheel in a careless and dangerous manner, and riding at high speed so that the rear wheel was up in the air.
The arrested suspects (19) were scheduled to be produced before the Gangodawila Magistrate’s Court yesterday (19) evening.
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