A group of young policemen who went undercover to catch high-school students illegally driving motorbikes on Hanoi streets have caught 500 young motorbike riders in 10 days.

Vietnamese laws state people of less than 18 years of age cannot drive motorbikes. It’s a situation that has been monitored by Hanoi high schools who have repeatedly asked students not to ride to school. However, many have persisted sometimes not even wearing helmets.

To deal with the situation Hanoi police disguised young officers as civilians and placed them around the Hanoi high schools. On seeing students riding motorbikes or breaking other traffic laws they called the nearest traffic police officers to come and punish the violators.

Lieutenant-colonel Nguyen Van Tong from the Hanoi Police Department said that while students will flee on motorbikes whenever they see policemen, which can be dangerous to others, the undercover police are better placed to tackle the problem

According to Tong, Hanoian police discovered over 500 violation cases in the last ten days. All students have had their motorbikes kept by police for 90 days and the violation is reported to their schools.

Lieutenant-colonel Dao Vinh Thang says that under a circular from the Ministry of Public Security, traffic police are permitted to disguise themselves to control traffic safety. He says this measure is an effective deterrent.

VietNamNet/VNE