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People of Asian descent among gangs preying on white women for sex in UK: Report

The report is based on a review of a police operation called Sanctuary that saw 18 people jailed in Newcastle, north England in October 2017.

Updated on: Feb 24, 2018, 18:05:05 IST
Hindustan Times, London | By , London
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A report on grooming of young and vulnerable women in the United Kingdom has identified people of Indian descent as among those who plied them with drugs and alcohol for sex, and have been convicted and jailed.

The defendants were mainly not white but came from a diverse range of backgrounds including Pakistani, Bangladeshi, Indian, Iranian, Iraqi, Kurdish, Turkish, Albanian and Eastern European. (Reuters file)
The defendants were mainly not white but came from a diverse range of backgrounds including Pakistani, Bangladeshi, Indian, Iranian, Iraqi, Kurdish, Turkish, Albanian and Eastern European. (Reuters file)

The report is based on a review of a police operation called Sanctuary that saw 18 people jailed in Newcastle, north England in October 2017. Nearly 700 victims have been identified in the Northumbria police area.

Members of similar Asian gangs were previously convicted in other parts of the UK.

“In response to questions after the Newcastle trials, the police confirmed that the defendants were mainly not white but came from a diverse range of backgrounds including Pakistani, Bangladeshi, Indian, Iranian, Iraqi, Kurdish, Turkish, Albanian and Eastern European”, the report released on Friday said.

In the case of incidents in Newcastle, the report added: “(All) appear to come from a non-white, predominantly Asian/British Minority Ethnic culture or background”.

In 2017, research by counter-extremism think-tank Quilliam Foundation found that of 264 offenders convicted for grooming offences between 2005 and 2017, 84% were of Asian heritage, mostly Pakistani; 8% were black and 7% were white.

The report said that the material it gathered and analysed illustrated “the calculated and persistent determination of perpetrators over a long period to exploit women and girls through horrific acts of abuse, violence and manipulation, targeting and grooming the most vulnerable with a dismissive disregard for the criminal justice system”.

It mentioned about an unnamed perpetrator: “If convicted for rape in his home country, he would be beheaded or buried up to the neck and stoned. He was asked about what he thought about the United Kingdom and influences in his education”.

“He said you can get anything here – any sex, drugs, alcohol. There is no control. He spoke in a derogatory way about lack of morals in British girls and did not go with Muslim girls because there are not many of them”.

The Theresa May government spokesperson said it would “look carefully” at the report’s 33 recommendations, and added: “These are abhorrent crimes that have had a devastating impact on the lives of the victims involved.”

  • Prasun Sonwalkar
    ABOUT THE AUTHOR
    Prasun Sonwalkar

    Prasun Sonwalkar was Editor (UK & Europe), Hindustan Times. During more than three decades, he held senior positions on the Desk, besides reporting from India’s north-east and other states, including a decade covering politics from New Delhi. He has been reporting from UK and Europe since 1999.Read More