Family told to pay £300,000 ‘or else’ after cars ram their café two times

A family in Birmingham say criminals have crashed into their businesses three times after they refused to pay them £30,000.

The family own the Middle Eastern-inspired Bab Al Hara Cafe on Grafton Road, Sparkbook, as well as a wedding venue on the same road.

But at around 10pm on August 30, a Range Rover smashed into the front of the café while a wedding was happening opposite.

CCTV footage showed the back of the car driving through the front window, damaging the window and metal shutters, only to reverse and crash through it again.

The group escaped in a Hyundai car, with an occupant who was wielding a machete, leaving the Range Rover behind.

Following the incident, the family said the culprits phoned them demanding the six-figure sum of money or else ‘your business will close within six months’.

The family attempted to negotiate a deal with the gang in a bid to ‘collect evidence’ for the police.

CCTV footage shows the moment a Range Rover rammed into the family business in Sparkbrook (Picture: BPM Media)

But when they went to the local authorities, the café was rammed again at around 12.50am on Saturday.

A second vehicle smashed into the Bab Al Hara Banqueting Suite – the gang fled in two getaway vehicles, one a 4×4 and the other a pick-up truck.

The family say they still don’t understand why they have been targeted and asked to pay £300,000.

But they believe they have somehow been caught up in a seven-year feud between gang members who frequent the cafe and rivals from Smethwick.

A member of the family, who does not wish to be named, said he has not experienced this treatment before.

He said: ‘We have worked 15 years in this country. We assist with the traffic on Fridays and during the month of Ramadan. We are a household name here.

The Bab Al-Hara banqueting suite was targeted by gangs (Picture: BPM Media)

‘These people have said you won’t have a business. How can a group of people come start an issue outside our workplace and then set up an extortion?’

The family member also claimed that a ‘man with a mask’ came to his mother’s house.

He added: ‘This is a family business. It’s sad to see. My father is a bit emotional. It’s extortion.

‘Whatever they are doing, we are in a country that doesn’t do this; if you have a problem, you go to the police.’

A police investigation into blackmail is now underway.

Get in touch with our news team by emailing us at [email protected].

For more stories like this, check our news page.

Comments