Eight youth including a minor performing wheelies and other dangerous stunts on their bikes in Ullal, Adyar, Vamanjoor, Naguri and Thokkottu Overbridge were arrested by police.
The arrested youth were identified as Kishan Kumar, Tausif Mohammed, Mohammed Safwan, Mohammed Aniz, Mohammed Sahil, Abbubakkar Siddiq, Iliyas and a minor, said Mangaluru Police Commissioner N Shashi Kumar.
After photos and videos of youths performing wheelies and stunts went viral on social media, the commissioner had set up a special team led by DCP (Crime and Traffic) Dinesh Kumar and ACP M A Nataraj.
During the special drive, police had registered four cases under various sections of the IPC and Motor Vehicles Act and seized five bikes.
Iliyas, Mohammed Sahil, Abbubakkar Siddiq and Safwan were engaged in performing stunts in Naguri and Thokkottu over the bridge in Ullal Police Station limits from March 1 to 6, while Kishan had performed wheelies at Adyar on March 10.
Tausif had performed the stunts in Ullal on March 11 and Mohammed Aniz performed stunts at Vamanjoor on March 11. Iliyas had posted the video of wheelies and stunts on his Instagram account.
Shashi Kumar said police had received complaints about drag races, wheelies, stunts by the riders.
Such acts are punishable offences. Even the social media monitoring cell of the Mangaluru Police Commissionerate had received more than 30 videos of youth engaged in wheelies and stunts.
The police had already identified 42 vehicles. They will write to authorities concerned about cancelling the registration of vehicles and the license of the arrested.
The commissioner urged parents to be cautious while buying vehicles for their children.
He also urged the public to bring incidents like drag races by youth to the notice of the police.