‘Secret Chinese police station’ still believed to be operating in Croydon

By Tara O’Connor, Local Democracy Reporter

There are ongoing concerns that a “secret Chinese police station” is still operating in Croydon.

MP for Croydon Central, Sarah Jones, said at first she thought the claims were a “hoax” but after “it turns out it wasn’t” and an investigation was launched, she is calling on the government to publicly acknowledge the situation.

Safeguard Defenders, a human rights organisation, said China’s “overseas service centres” span 30 countries in five continents, one of which is reportedly in Croydon with another apparent London hub in Hendon.

The alleged police station is said to operate from the office of a business All Eat App on High Street in Croydon.

The issue was raised again in parliament last week by shadow home secretary Yvette Cooper.

On April 19, Ms Cooper, said: “The lack of answers will raise grave concerns that the government are not addressing the scale of this threat and are not updating parliament for fear of party political embarrassment because of the connections with the Conservative party.

“That is not good enough.”

This week, Croydon MP Ms Jones said: “It is a mystery to everyone. The first I heard about it was from constituents and my initial sense was ‘this must be a hoax’, but it turns out it wasn’t and it is something the government is investigating.

“I would like the government to come out and say something. The fact that there are investigations suggests there is worries about it.”

Ruiyou Lin, the businessman behind the food delivery app, has released a 19-minute response to the allegations that an overseas police station is being run from the Croydon office.

The YouTube video features a sit-down interview with Mr Lin interspersed with shots of Croydon town centre and the office in question.

He said: “I do not work for any such police station nor do I hold any public office in China.

“I run a relatively successful technology company but recently it has been published as a Chinese police station, it is not true and I think the purpose may be to attack me personally or my business.”

He claimed that as chairman of the UK Fujianese Association, he volunteered to help residents from Fuzhou re-apply for their Chinese driving licences which need to be updated every six years. He said he helped people with this in his Croydon office.

Mr Lin claims that people “misunderstood” that the office was being used as an overseas department of the Chinese police because the country’s driving licence service is managed by the Traffic Police Department.

A government spokesperson said: “Reports of alleged, undeclared ‘police stations’ operating in the UK are of course very concerning and are taken extremely seriously.

“Attempts by foreign governments to coerce, intimidate, harass or harm their critics overseas, undermining democracy and the rule of law, are unacceptable.

“We are committed to tackling these challenges wherever they originate.”

Pictured top: Croydon town centre (Picture: Tara O’Connor)