Arrested street racers to undergo 'shock therapy'

In the crackdown, some 80 youngsters were arrested and 57 motorbikes confiscated. Of them, 47, including 27 minors, have been booked. The youngest is a 12-year-old boy.

DJOP chief Thawatchai Thaikhiew said 25 boys and two girls under the age of 18 have been sent to juvenile centres. Many parents tried to bail their kids out yesterday, but officials refused saying the kids had to be put through a five-day shock therapy session, he said.

Parents would not be allowed to visit for the first three days of the programme, which comprises health evaluation, problem realisation, art therapy, life skills and virtue development, training and activities aimed at developing family relations. Thawatchai said the programme had proved to be very effective before.

The public prosecutor yesterday had 20 of the youths aged over 18 hear their charges, including riding recklessly, failing to wear helmets and failing to present drivers' licences, at the Phra Khanong court.

The court later sentenced the 20 to 14 days in jail before reducing the sentence to seven days on grounds that their confessions were useful. Since none of the youngsters had previous criminal records, the court then reduced the punishment to a seven-day detention at the Pathum Thani Central Detention Centre and had the motorcycles confiscated.

Kanokkan Thongkham, 48, whose 25-year-old son Jaran Wanyaeng was among those arrested, said, "I can't stop my son from watching racing because he loves it so much. He's a well-behaved adult with a job."

A suspect's older sister, identified only as Siriwan, said she was riding on the back of her brother's bike when they got caught in the raid. "One policeman kicked down my brother's bike, causing me a knee injury," she said.

After being released from detention yesterday, Siriwan said police wouldn't listen to her brother's insistence that he was not racing. She said people parked alongside the road were also arrested.

In related news, a teenager has been charged with attempted murder after he crashed his motorcycle into a policeman while trying to escape. Captain Suraphol Daojaeng is undergoing treatment for a broken kneecap and is awaiting results of a brain scan.