Met Police investigate kidnap attempt of Jewish man told to ‘get in boot of car’ in Stamford Hill

From My London 

The Metropolitan Police are investigating after a group of males reportedly attempted to kidnap a Jewish man in Stamford Hill on Friday, April 26. At around 5.24pm, the victim was walking on Moundfield Road.

In a video of the incident posted on X by the Shomrim, a Jewish neighbourhood watch group, a black car drives down the narrow street before at least two males get out. One of the men, wearing a distinctive orange T-shirt, approaches the man and gestures to him.

🚨#AttemptedKidnap#HateCrime #Antisemitism

👥 Jewish male threatened by 4 males who demanded he gets into the boot of their car!

🕵️‍♂️@Shomrim & @MetPoliceUK are appealing for info or sightings of a black VW T Cross EA24 VXF involved with the attempted Kidnap on Moundfield Road… pic.twitter.com/QguhkLPSRM

— Shomrim (Stamford Hill) (@Shomrim) April 28, 2024

One of the other males is opening the boot of the car. The victim can be seen speaking into his mobile phone, and the males turn around and get back into the car before attempting to drive off backwards down the road.

According to the Metropolitan Police, the victim was approached and told to get into the boot of the car. The Shomrim have said the incident ended when the victim said he was calling the police and other vehicles approached the scene.

The victim them reported the incident to the police and an investigation was launched by officers in Hackney. No arrests have yet been made, the police have said.

It should be the work of minutes to look up the clear number plate and trace the owner of the car, who, unless it had been reported stolen, should know who was driving it on Friday.  As the intended victim wasn’t manhandled or assaulted it may not have been an operational effort at obtaining a hostage or murder victim. But it may well have been a dummy run, or nasty and malicious intimidation intended to spread fear and despair. Either way the police should by now be questioning the driver and passengers of that Volkswagen. There is too much hate and malice on the streets of London to dismiss it as a prank; not in the current climate.