AR activists involved in bid to shut lab among 30 arrested

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Animal rights activists involved in bid to shut lab among 30 arrested in raids


Sandra Laville, crime correspondent
Wednesday May 2, 2007
The Guardian


Leading animal rights activists involved in a bitter campaign to close down a scientific research laboratory were arrested yesterday after a two-year intelligence-led operation involving police forces in the UK and Europe.

Greg Avery, who runs Stop Huntingdon Animal Cruelty (Shac), was among 30 alleged extremists seized from their homes at dawn in a police operation that was overseen by the National Extremist Crime Unit, according to police sources. Thirty-two addresses were raided, including one in Belgium and two in Amsterdam.

Shac has campaigned for eight years to close Huntingdon Life Sciences (HLS), an animal testing laboratory in Cambridgeshire.
Shac states on its website that it does not support criminal activity, but has been viewed by animal rights activists as one of the most successful campaign groups. Those within the animal research world say it has created a climate of fear among those working in laboratories or linked in any way with HLS.

More than 700 police were involved in what was one of the largest operations against alleged animal rights extremists. Fifteen men and 15 women were arrested from Berkshire, Hampshire, Surrey, Sussex, Kent, London, south Wales, Lancashire and Yorkshire.

The alleged offences include burglary and conspiracy to blackmail.

Police search teams recovered documents, mobile phones, computer equipment and cash totalling around £100,000, according to a Hampshire police spokesman. Financial investigators from the City of London police economic crime unit are assisting the inquiry.

Assistant chief constable Adrian Leppard, of Hampshire police, said that some of those arrested were linked.

"A number of people have been working together jointly to commit offences," he said.

He also revealed that HLS had been involved in the investigation, although he would not give details. He said the arrests were the culmination of a two-year operation involving Hampshire, Kent, Surrey, Sussex and Thames Valley police forces.

"In recent years animal rights extremists have conducted sustained campaigns of harassment and intimidation against the animal research industry, seeking to achieve their objective by creating a climate of fear," he said.

The 30 people arrested were being held at a number of police stations.

One of the addresses raided was the Freshfields Animal Rescue Centre on Merseyside. Dave Callender, who runs the centre, has convictions for firebombing and formerly chaired the Animal Liberation Front (Alf) on Merseyside.

Mr Callender, 47, was jailed for 10 years in March 1996 for conspiring to commit arson. A jury at Birmingham crown court heard he had enough material to make more than 100 incendiary devices. The prosecution alleged that he was planning a "campaign directed at a number of targets which included cattle farms, slaughterhouses, meat traders, egg production farms and also societies connected with hunting or other field sports".

Mr Callender was also a leader of demonstrations against fox hunting, hare coursing and the Grand National.

But yesterday Mr Callender, who was not arrested, said he had given up his activist past.

He condemned the police for their heavy-handed approach. "They turned up at 5am and seized three members of staff from their beds," he said. "They took another two who arrived at work at 6.20am. We have had no access to the property since and we have been unable to feed all our animals or clean them out." He added: "None of the staff has been placed under arrest. We have nothing to hide here. I am an older, wiser man now."

Mr Avery is one of a core of around 10 individuals who run Shac. Activists credit Shac with ensuring that HLS shares have collapsed on the London and New York stock exchanges as it lost shareholders and suppliers who have been targeted by activists.

A police source said the activists would have known that they were under surveillance for some time. "They tend to be very careful what they do," the source said.

HLS was founded in 1952 in the UK and is now an international business. Protesters have repeatedly broken into the Cambridgeshire laboratory, which is Europe's biggest commercial animal testing lab.



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