Racers to be 'cured'

Department of Juvenile Observation and Protection directorgeneral Thawatchai Thaikheo pleaded with the parents based in Chachoengsao whose teenage children were arrested in a police sweep late on Saturday night.

He said his department's rehabilitation was a success, based on police records that not one who'd "graduated" from more than 20 classes had returned to street racing.

The 38 youngsters arrested, three of them girls, are now in Bang Pakong police custody. They will be relocated to the department's office in neighbouring Samut Prakan, because there is no such training facility in Chachoengsao.

During the course, all boys will have crewcuts and undergo basic military training. The youngsters will have their activities recorded and compared with taped footage of their street racing, to compare how different they have become after the rehabilitation course.

The young people will also be asked to write down what they wanted to say to their parents, to be read to their families when they are reunited at the end of the fiveday course.