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Motorists cheat radars with tampered plates

DUBAI - Cases of drivers tampering number plates to avoid paying fines are on the rise in Dubai with police issuing alerts for 1,158 vehicles with such false plates.

Major General Mohammed Safi Al Zafin, Director of the General Department of Traffic of Dubai Police, said eight cases involving fake number plates were referred to public prosecution since October this year and the police had seized 263 vehicles for such violations.

Al Zafin said many drivers reported their number plates had been stolen and applied for new ones in a bid to get away from the law, while others made plates with three digits instead of five. There have also been cases where the UAE symbol is stuck near the numbers to avoid being caught by cameras while speeding.

He said some drivers got caught because they changed only the front plate while the back gave them away as speed cameras click both the front and back of the vehicle.

The Dubai General Department of Traffic recovered fines worth Dh922,742,330 for traffic violations committed over two years until October 2011. Al Zafin said there were 1,520,213 traffic violations committed by drivers during this period. When the department realised that many drivers had not paid their fines, the police tracked down the vehicles and their owners who had not paid fines running into thousands of dirhams, he said.

news@khaleejtimes.com