Boombox, a former hip-hop record store in North London, was actually run by undercover police as part of a sting operation, according to a recent inquiry.
“Operation Peyzac,” a half-million-pound sting operation that Metro Police connected with CCTV to monitor the recording studio in the back, was part of an effort to reduce gun violence in the neighborhood, according to a thorough investigation by Vice on Monday, November 21.
A 2016 Daily Mail article stated that 37 alleged “armed criminals” and drug dealers were imprisoned as a result of the operation for a total of 400 years. According to Vice, the majority were Black and ranged in age from 16 to 41.
“The undercover officers sought to portray themselves as having unspecified criminal links in order to infiltrate relevant persons to gather evidence on their levels of criminality,” Abbas Nawrozzadeh, a senior consultant solicitor at Eldwick Law, told Vice: “This was one of the largest undercover operations in London in recent years.”
A 19-year-old Black male who was arrested during the sting was represented by Nawrozzadeh, who observed how his client looked up to the undercover officers and believed they would be of assistance to him.
“Our client, like many of the other defendants, looked up to the undercover officers as ‘holders,’” Nawrozzadeh said, “experienced and credentialed, including with regard to criminal ties, music producers who were able to make them famous.”
In an interview for the article, former Merseyside Police Detective Superintendent Richard Carr stated that while undercover work is still useful, it must be conducted morally.
“I think that undercover policing has got a vital part to play in policing,” Carr said. But it’s got to be done ethically and proportionally. You’ve got to play by the rules. It all needs to be authorized. Some of these may be innocent people who have been entrapped. And I don’t know whether that’s the case [here], but what it doesn’t mean is that undercover policing is ineffective.”
