Sixteen men including a police officer, who are accused of being part of an alleged grooming gang in Halifax in UK, have been charged with sexually abusing girls between 13 and 16, BBC reported.
West Yorkshire police officer Amjad Ditta aka Amjad Hussain, 35, has been charged with sexual touching. He and 15 other men are charged with offences against three girls in the Halifax area, dating from 2006 to 2009. The allegations include several counts of rape, sexual assault, supplying drugs and trafficking. Hussain has been suspended from duty as a constable in the force’s Protective Services Operations department.
The principal victim, identified as "Jeanette" in government reports, was 13 when the sexual abuse first began. The grroming gang exploited her desire for friendship and love, deliberately giving her drink and drugs to turn her into an addict. In interviews with the police, she described being raped and abused in many different locations, including private homes in Halifax, Bradford and Manchester, and hotels in Bradford, Leeds and London.
A 2018 report by Quilliam, a London-based think tank,“Group Based Child Sexual Exploitation: Dissecting Grooming Gangs” (authored by Haras Rafiq and Muna Adil) pointed out that grooming gang are mostly “of Pakistani origin with Muslim heritage”. The Quilliam report pinned the blame on the “culture” of Muslim communities.
BBC also listed the names of 15 other men charged with sexually abusing girls -