CHENNAI: The city police on Friday arrested two youths for scaring the public in Royapettah on Friday evening by wielding machetes and threatening shopkeepers and motorists who passed by. They kept demanding money.

Search is on for their accomplice. The arrested youths were identified as T Feroz (22) and R Balaji (27) – both from Royapettah.

The suspects, along with their accomplice, V Sasikumar (20), had gotten drunk and creating a scene in public, police sources said. Around 7.30 pm, they were walking along Dr Besant Road, Royapettah, wielding machetes and striking the weapon against parked vehicles and also motorists who passed by them.

They ransacked petty shops by throwing glass containers onto the road and also broke the window panes of parked cars. One of the cars belonged to a functionary of Tamil Nadu Muslim Munnetra Kazhagam (TMMK), police said.

Based on an alert by an auto-rickshaw driver who witnessed their act, a team from Ice House police station rushed to the scene. On seeing the cops, Sasikumar ran away and escaped, but the police managed to catch the other two.

Police seized three machetes from them. Investigations revealed that the suspects did not have any previous antecedents and were trying to create a reputation for themselves. They were produced before a magistrate and remanded to judicial custody.