Group of men accused of child sex exploitation appear at Crown Court

A WEST Yorkshire Police officer and 15 men from

Halifax have appeared in court accused of offences relating to alleged historic child sexual exploitation in the town.

Amjad Hussain, 35, inset, of Halifax, who also uses the surname Ditta, appeared at Bradford Crown Court.

He was not required to enter a plea to a single charge of sexual touching when he appeared in court, but 13 of his co-accused dened all the charges that they face.

The case relates to alleged abuse of three girls in Halifax between 2006 and 2009. The alleged victims were aged between 13 and 16 at the time.

The offence Hussain stands accused of is said to have taken place in 2009, when he was a serving officer.

He has now been suspended from duty, the force said.

He and his co-defendants, who are all from Halifax, were given bail and a provisional trial date was set for September 14.

Those who entered not guilty pleas on Monday were:

- Mohammed Vaqaas Abbas, 30, denied three counts of rape and three of supplying a class C drug

- Nadeem Adalat, 34, pleaded not guilty to four charges of rape and four of supply of a class C drug

- Sajid Adalat, 44, denies a charge of rape

- Waseem Adalat, 33, denied two counts of rape, as well as single counts of trafficking, supply of a class C drug and assault.

- Christopher Eastwood,

45, pleaded not guilty to two counts of rape and two counts of supply of a class C drug

- Mahtab Islam, 46, denied six counts of rape, three of supplying a class A drug, three of supplying a class C drug, two of sexual assault and one of conspiracy to pervert the course of justice

- Mohammed Rizwan Iqbal, 34, pleaded not guilty to a charge of rape

- Ishtiaq Latif, 32, pleaded not guilty to sexual activity with a child.

- Asad Mahmood, 33, denied two counts of rape, one of trafficking and one of common assault

- Younis Mohammed, 34, denied rape and causing a person to engage in sexual activity without consent

- Shahzad Nowaz, 40, denied rape, supply of a class C drug and making threats to kill - Shazad Nazir, 44, denied guilty to two counts of rape and two of supply of a class C drug

- Sohail Zafar, 36, denied rape and supplying a class C drug.

As well as Hussain, Nadeem Nassir, 39, who faces charges of rape, supplying a class C drug and making threats to kill, did not enter any pleas. Khalifa Mughal, 36, was also not arraigned. He faces six counts of rape, as well as single counts of supply of a class C drug, supply of a class A drug and conspiracy to pervert the course of justice.