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About 300 owners of the motorcycles impounded during a police swoop to clamp down on the use of motorbikes for crime have been put before court. Those prosecuted were among a total of 1,141 arrested for various offences during the first exercise by the Accra Regional Police Command on April 15, 2014. A second operation was carried out on April 21, 2014 during which 875 motorbikes were impounded. Charges The riders were charged with various offences, including riding motorbikes without licence or protective helmet and the use of motorbikes without any valid insurance policy. Some of them were also charged for using motorbikes for commercial purposes, using an unregistered motorbike and riding without road worthy certificates. Appearing before the Accra Circuit Court, the offenders were fined between GH�300 and GH�1,200. Five persons were remanded into police custody, while 10 were granted bail. Stolen motorbikes The Accra Regional Police Commander, Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCOP) Mr Christian Tetteh Yohonu, told the Daily Graphic that a number of the motorbikes had been identified as stolen ones. �A lot of the riders were riding the motorbikes with either expired licences or they did not have licences at all. There were even some of them who were using drivers licences for riding the motorbikes,� he said. He cautioned that the law was against using motorcycles for commercial purposes, and advised the riders to acquire the proper documentations to avoid being caught by the law. �When you have the necessary licence, insurance cover, road worthy certificate, you wear your helmet and your motorbike is registered, the police will not arrest you,� he said. On the exercise to clamp down on the indiscriminate use of motorbikes, he said, �we intend to sustain this operation until sanity prevails on our roads.� - See more at: http://graphic.com.gh/news/general-news/21791-300-motor-riders-before-court.html#sthash.k50cLoPC.dpuf