Manchester cafe owner says police tried to recruit him to spy on Palestine Action

A cafe owner claims police offered him financial benefits and to turn a “blind eye” to certain low-level offences if he informed on Palestine Action.Shams (his nickname) Sadiq, who owns two Manchester cafes, said the inducements were offered when he went to collect electronic devices that police had confiscated during his arrest last year in connection with alleged offences relating to the banned direct action group.Sadiq, 51, from Didsbury, said that when he attended Ashton-under-Lyne police station on 15 May, two officers he believes were from Operation Wildflower – a response by Manchester-police" class="entity-link entity-organization" data-entity-id="3930" data-entity-type="organization">Greater Manchester Police (GMP) and others to the war on Gaza – asked to speak to him “man to man”.The officers told him that having checked his devices, they knew he was “fully involved” with Palestine Action but that they would not be charging him in relation to last year’s arrest, Sadiq said.“They said to me: ‘We need your help. Look, there’s benefits in helping us,’” he told the Guardian. “I’m like: ‘What kind of benefits? Financial benefits? Are you going to pay my taxes?’ They said: ‘Oh, we can help with things like that.’“The other guy said to me: ‘Oh, there’s other benefits, too.’ They said: ‘We’re not saying you can go out and commit a serious crime but we can turn a blind eye to certain things.’”Sadiq said he then asked if they could get rid of his speeding tickets and they answered: “We don’t care about speeding.”He interpreted “help” to mean “with their investigations [into Palestine Action] because they said I am involved and maybe be an informer. They also said I’m quite respected in my community, so maybe they think I would help them find Muslims in the mosque with extreme views.”Sadiq, who remains under investigation in relation to a 2024 alleged Palestine Action-related offence, said that four days before the offer, he had been questioned – but not arrested – at Manchester airport under schedule 7 of the Terrorism Act after returning from holiday in Morocco.He said two officers at the airport had questioned him about Palestine Action, Iran and his financial situation, including his mortgage. He said he had been held for more than three hours, during which he was asked what he would do if someone next to him at the mosque had extreme views. Again, his electronic devices were taken away.He said the same two officers had told him to meet them at Starbucks in terminal 2 three days later, where they were “really nice, apologetic, ‘sorry you had to go through this’” and returned the devices they had taken at the airport.Sadiq, who said he was vocal about Palestine, has been on marches and gets leaflets and stickers printed for pro-Palestinian groups and cultural exhibitions. Last year, the Manchester Evening News reported that miniature Israeli flags had been stuck on the door of one of his cafes, apparently because of his support for Palestine.During the talk at Ashton-under-Lyne police station, he said the officers also told him they would protect him and his family. They said they did not need an immediate decision and gave him a number to text.He said he had decided to go public to ensure his safety, given he was not taking up the offer. His neighbours had stopped talking to him after his arrest last year, he added. “I feel like I need protection from the police rather than anything else. It’s scary that I’ve got this marker on my passport for doing nothing. If they’ve got something on me, then charge me.”Simon Pook, of Robert Lizar solicitors, said he was making formal representations to GMP on Sadiq’s behalf and described the force’s conduct as reminiscent of that of the British state during the Northern Ireland Troubles.“​We’re unhappy that he was put in that position and offered inducements to work for the state,” said Pook. “Was the intention always to use the schedule 7 [stop] in order to offer the inducement? If that is the true intention, schedule 7 was used unlawfully, because it’s got to be used where you believe somebody may be involved in or in an act of preparation of terrorism.”GMP said it was unable to comment.