So-called “illegal races” had been going on for about a year and a half, according to the GNR statement.

The police operation of criminal investigation and road inspection culminated in the inspection of more than 200 vehicles.

The GNR reports that, during the proceedings, two people were arrested for the crimes of driving without a legal license and for the crime of falsifying technical records, 14 men were charged with dangerous driving, and 37 reports of administrative offenses were drawn up.

In total, 23 vehicles were seized due to changes in their characteristics, which are subject to extraordinary inspection, and 14 administrative offences were registered relating to the lack of civil liability insurance, lack of mandatory periodic inspection, tyres, among others.

This operation was carried out by the Porto Territorial Command, through the Traffic Accident Crime Investigation Unit (NICAV), of the Porto Traffic Detachment, in the early hours of Friday to Saturday.

The defendants are all between 21 and 34 years old.

The operation took place in Leça da Palmeira, in the municipality of Matosinhos, “a place where the practice of this type of behaviour has been observed and monitored, as it jeopardises road safety, involving the perpetrators of these practices and also the people who witness them”, reads the statement.

In the note, the GNR takes the opportunity to point out that it “is aware of the growing phenomenon commonly known as ‘Street Racing’, due to the social alarm and the serious consequences of these dangerous events, as well as the fact that they constitute increasingly organised criminal acts, whether of a criminal or administrative nature”.