DUBAI // Traffic police caught 125 vehicles with deliberately concealed licence plates over the Eid Al Fitr holiday.
And from the start of the year until July 3, they issued 3,718 fines for unclear licence plates.
Col Saif Al Mazrouei, director of the traffic and patrols department, said that some vehicle owners were using new techniques to avoid being caught by speed radars.
Some painted their plates with an oily substance they said protected them from corrosion.
Others broke off part of the plate, or forged the front plate and left the rear one intact.
Still others simply let a piece of luggage hang out of the boot, concealing the plate.
A total of 573 vehicles were seized after their owners had camouflaged the plates to evade outstanding traffic fines from the start of last year until the end of July this year.
The department also found 788 cases where drivers had manipulated the plate numbers, compared with 4,460 last year.
An inquiry panel was set up by Dubai Police in 2009, aiming to address the increase in cancelled radar fines for various reasons including licence plates that were deliberately or inadvertently concealed.
The Dubai Police traffic department referred 10 cases to public prosecution of motorists who completely forged licence plates to dodge fines.
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