Mozzie device sees off rowdy youths

LONDON - A Welsh inventor claims to have found the perfect solution to rowdy youngsters - noise.

Howard Stapleton says his device, the "Mosquito", emits an uncomfortable high-pitched ultrasonic sound that can be heard by children and teenagers but almost no one over 30. The ability to hear high frequencies reduces with age.

It has successfully driven away noisy teens from a grocery store in the Welsh town of Barry and a shop in Stapleton's home town Merthyr Tydfil, making smoking, lounging and foul-mouthed youths a thing of the past.

Some teens, intimidated by gangs hanging around the shops, welcomed the device.

- REUTERS