The brother of a cabinet minister had been stopped by police yesterday, following a long chase, with the help of obstacles --  after his vehicle had sped away ignoring an order to stop. But he had been released soon after as a top government official had intervened.

A constable on traffic duty had signaled the vehicle to stop at Pasyala as it was speeding towards Colombo.

The driver had ignored the order and two policemen had given chase on a motorcycle.

An urgent call had also been given to the NIttambuwa Police regarding the vehicle and the Yakkala Werallwaththa mobile traffic unit had attempted to stop it but failed and it had continued to speed towards Colombo.

The Yakkala-Werallawatte police had then called the emergency unit 119  and several obstacles had been placed across the road at Balummahara Junction, Gampaha and the vehicle had been stopped.

Police had then arrested the driver of the vehicle who had told them that the other occupant of the vehicle was the brother of a cabinet minister.

When the vehicle, the driver and the passenger were about to be taken to the Nittambuwa Police Station, a top government official had called the police and ordered them to release the offenders immediately.

The police had thus been compelled to release the offenders, a senior police officer said. (S.U.W.Jayawardane)