XY IS GUILTY
Abuse ring’s drug supplier’s prison cell claim
OPERATION Shelter convict Nadeem Aslam has penned a prison cell letter insisting he’s the innocent victim of a set-up.
Aslam is currently in HMP Durham awaiting sentence after being convicted of serious drug offences as part of the investigation into a network of sex predators who groomed vulnerable girls and women in Newcastle’s West End.
He was found not guilty of one count of conspiracy to incite prostitution.
But the 43-year-old has now vowed to clear his name.
And in his two-and-a-half page handwritten letter, Aslam made shocking claims about the rapist police informant known only as ‘XY’ and dismissed his own convictions, saying he had been cleared of anything he calls “wrongdoing”.
Aslam wrote: “My name is Nadeem Aslam and I am one of the defendants on Operation Shelter. I was cleared of any wrongdoing and I have no sexual charges yet still I have been labelled a ‘groomer.’ I want the public to know the truth.”
Aslam was one of 18 people convicted for an array of offences as part of Northumbria Police’s Operation Shelter.
The investigation was launched in early 2014 in response to allegations that vulnerable girls and young women in the West End were being plied with drugs and drink then exploited for sex.
The 17 men and one woman were convicted of offences including rape, trafficking for sexual exploitation and supplying drugs, after jurors heard how troubled girls were lured to parties known as ‘sessions’ and abused.
Aslam, of Belle Grove West, in Spital Tongues, Newcastle, was found not guilty of the sexual offence he was charged with, but he was convicted of two counts of supplying drugs, two counts of possession of drugs and one count of permitting premises to be used for the supply of drugs.
During a series of four trials at Newcastle Crown Court, it was revealed Northumbria Police paid almost £10,000 to a convicted rapist to infiltrate the sex gang.
The force said the man, known only as XY, was instructed not to go to any of the sessions and was tasked with finding out when and where the parties were taking place so police could disrupt them.
However, Aslam has claimed XY was setting up the parties himself, at the request of his police handler, and may have even abused girls.
“He was tasked by his handler to set parties up, take girls where these Asian men would be, and to plant drugs,” he wrote. “There were clear signs of sexual misconduct by the informant.
“Even one of the girls put a statement into the judge to say XY was chilling with these girls and supplying them with drugs.”
Aslam believes his convictions for drugs offences do not mean he was involved in the grooming carried out by some of the other men.
Newcastle Crown Court heard how the Operation Shelter perverts targeted some of the city’s most vulnerable girls and women.
Some of the predators got some of the victims hooked on the class B drug MCAT, also known as Meow Meow, Bubble and Mephedrone, before abusing them and passing them around for sex.
A total of 25 people were charged with a range of crimes relating to 22 young victims of the Operation Shelter investigation.
However, police estimate as many as 108 girls could have been harmed by the vile grooming network, either as direct victims or witnesses.
It has been revealed that XY complained to the National Crime Agency about the way he was treated by Northumbria Police. This complaint was passed on to the Independent Police Complaints Commission but no wrongdoing was found.
The judge in the case, Penny Moreland, also stated she felt everything XY said was “wholly lacking in credibility”.
Northumbria Police’s Chief Constable Steve Ashman said: “The lawful and regulated use of such tactics is always overseen by a senior police officer and is also subject to review by an independent body.
“Furthermore in this case the handling of XY by Northumbria Police was the subject of an independent investigation by the IPCC in which no misconduct was found nor any recommendations made whatsoever.”