Despite criticism that recent Police sweeps are targeting young black men unfairly, the Senior Magistrate welcomed its effect on dealing with over 10,000 outstanding warrants.

Nearly two dozen young men were hauled before Archibald Warner yesterday, most of them in Police custody since Saturday, and he doled out an estimated $12,000 in fines.

And Mr. Warner discounted lawyer Victoria Pearman's claims the arrests nabbed "a very limited part of the society''.

Her comments drew applause from the gallery watching the morning plea court session.

But Mr. Warner responded: "You catch where you throw your net. Black, white, green or blue, it doesn't matter.

"I have nothing to do with the operation,'' he told Ms Pearman. "Whatever the Police do is their business. We have over 10,000 warrants outstanding and it's only a matter of time before I rent out National Stadium to deal with the matter.'' And he noted that as long as the Police were helping to bring in outstanding warrants, anything else was not a concern of his court. Mr. Warner added: "I am going to shut the Island down, because they don't come to court.'' Many of the young men were headed to St. David's to attend a concert and were arrested after they failed to check through one of a series of Police road blocks.

Each count that Mr. Warner heard related to defendants who have missed court appearances that stemmed from traffic violations or unpaid fines.

Yesterday's session had spilled over from a special plea court session which was held last Saturday morning.

And Mr. Warner slapped some 20 men -- who were also arrested last week in relation to the crackdown on gang violence -- with a series of fines when they appeared for outstanding bench and summary warrants.

Ms Pearman was defending a client and blasted the situation and noted that Police were targeting specific people and suggested a racial imbalance to their recent arrests.

"Your Worship, speaking as an officer of the court, we are aware of the various road blocks set up to coincide with the recent gang violence,'' she said. "But no gang member has been arrested.

"The Police stations are full and I have difficulty seeing what's going on in this court. The people being held are from a very limited part of the society.'' But Mr. Warner was unswayed by her comments and fired off at his former colleague as she left the courtroom: "Don't disturb my court, I have business to do.'' The fines which were all traffic related dated as far back as 1993. And Pembroke resident Stuart Rogers contributed to a hefty portion of the $12,000 in issued fines, when he was solely fined $4,830 for a series of traffic offences.

Rogers' fines ranged from driving a vehicle on three different occasions without insurance or valid vehicle licence and two separate occasions of speeding at 51 kilometres and 58 kilometres.

He pleaded guilty to all counts and was fined $1,000 for each count of having no insurance, $450 for each count of driving without valid vehicle licence, $250 for speeding at 51 kilometres and $230 for speeding at 58 kilometres.

In an effort to make sure that the fines were paid as soon as they were issued to all those who appeared in court yesterday, court bailiffs said that the warrants would stay in effect until the payments were satisfied.