SAMUT PRAKAN - Undercover police work often involves disguises, surveillance and patience. In Bang Phli on Saturday night, it also involved a "moo krata" grill.
What looked like a casual roadside barbecue was actually a sting operation targeting illegal motorcycle racers.
Bang Phli police launched an operation dubbed "Camping: Sending Kids Back into Their Parents' Arms" after receiving repeated complaints from residents and motorists about youths gathering to modify and race motorcycles late at night.
The operation targeted Chalerm Phrakiat Road in Nong Prue subdistrict, where residents said illegal racing had become a frequent nuisance and raised fears of serious accidents. A team of 16 officers, both plainclothes and uniformed, took part.
Rather than waiting in patrol cars, undercover officers posed as local residents, setting up folding tables, cooking equipment and a roadside moo krata feast. Blending in with the usual weekend crowd, they quietly observed youths gathering in the area.
When officers spotted a group preparing to race, they alerted police units stationed nearby, who moved in to surround and detain the suspects. (Story continues below)
Police later expanded the operation to Leab Klong Song Nam Suvarnabhumi Road (Suvarnabhumi Irrigation Canal Road), another location that had drawn complaints about illegal motorcycle racing.
The crackdown resulted in the seizure of four motorcycles and the detention of eight youths, who were handed over to investigators for further legal action.
Bang Phli police station stressed that the moo krata gathering was merely a tactic to allow officers to monitor suspects without attracting attention.
"The public area was not being used for recreational purposes," police said, adding that officers cleaned the site and removed all equipment after the operation.
The operation followed another undercover crackdown early last week, when Pol Lt Col Thalerngkiat Manee-in, deputy chief of Bang Phli police station, led a team disguised as street racers to infiltrate a group of young riders gathering on Bang Phli-Tamru Road before moving in to make arrests.
