Dubai Police Stop Street Racers, Seize 81 Cars

With speedsters in Dubai using the emirate’s long, straight highways for illegal racing, police has had to crack down and seize no fewer than 81 vehicle.

As reported by the BBC, the cars had been racing with no license plates in order to make it harder for the authorities to identify the owners, though once in custody, those behind the wheel faced fines of up to 100,000 dirham ($27,000) with a further 50,000 dirham ($13,600) charged to the owners.

Dubai police chief Maj Gen Khamis Al Mazinah was quoted as saying “traffic patrols tracked a number of reckless drivers and seized 81 vehicles,” though without specifying when this raid took place and what type of cars were impounded – we’re guessing the type that can get up to very high speeds.

He then added that owners “were using or preparing to use their cars of illegal races. Other cars were caught in dangerous performances and reckless driving that endangered road users.” Apparently, some drivers reached speeds of 196 mph (315 km/h) while trying to escape police patrols. Of course, Dubai PD can easily keep up since they’ve got plenty of supercars and even hypercars in their arsenal.

According to local media, if the owners of the cars don’t pay the fines within three months, their vehicles will be auctioned off.