Cafe owner says UK police tried to recruit him to spy on Palestine Action

A cafe owner in northern England has said British police offered him financial incentives and promised to turn a blind eye to some low-level offences if he informed on the proscribed group Palestine Action.

The Guardian reported on Saturday that a man named Shams Sadiq, the owner of two cafes in Manchester, said he was offered inducements by the police. 

The offers were made when he went to pick up electronic devices confiscated by police during his arrest last year over alleged offences linked to Palestine Action, Sadiq said.

The direct action group was proscribed last year after members broke into a military air base. The ban made expressing support for, or membership of, the group a criminal offence punishable by up to 14 years in prison.

Sadiq said he went to Ashton-under-Lyne Police Station on 15 May, where two officers asked to speak with him “man to man”. 

Read more: Cafe owner says UK police tried to recruit him to spy on Palestine Action