(Jaen province) After arresting and charging 29 people in the province of Jaen for manipulating speed-limiters on mopeds,the Guardia came across a forged stamp on somebody’s car documents. They’re keen to learn more, bless them.

At first, the car’s papers were all in order and the vehicle had passed its ITV in Madrid… but appearances are deceptive because the police had been coming across this same Madrid ITV stamp repeatedly over the course of the year, but on bikers’ docs – this was the first time that they had found it on a car’s docs.

This particular car had turned up at the ITV station in Ubeda, Jaen, where the staff spotted the stamp on a previous inspection and alerted the police. The ITV station in Madrid was contacted, who confirmed that the vehicles had not passed through their doors and before you could say, ‘whoops’ three vehicle owners in Ubeda, the manager of a gestoria in the same town and a member of the ITV staff at the Madrid station were arrested.

At the same time, they launched Operacion Moto 2 and soon had ten people under arrest, three of whom were motorbike repair-shop owners. These gentlemen had allegedly falsified bike documents to certify that limiter-devices had been installed on motorbikes belonging to young lads that had only recently passed their bike test. The workshops charged between 200 and 600 euros to fit non-existent limiters and signed paperwork as having done so.

It is very difficult for the average traffic policeman to carry out an inspection of a motorbike to check that a limiter has been fitted, as stated in the documents… mind you, when a screaming adolescent passes you at 200 kph on a 49cc moped, there is good reason to suspect that the engine arrangement might not quite be totally legal.

(News: Ubeda, Jaen, Andalucia)