Convicted grooming gang member told he would be deported
A MEMBER of a grooming gang has been pictured in the town where he committed his crimes, six years after being told he would be deported.
Qari Abdul Rauf, now 52, was one of nine men sentenced in 2012 for a catalogue of serious sex offences against vulnerable victims in Rochdale and Heywood.
Taxi driver and Muslim preacher Abdul Rauf, was convicted of trafficking and conspiracy to engage in sexual activity with a child.
The court heard how the father-offive trafficked a 15-year-old girl for sex, driving her to secluded areas to have sex with her in his taxi and ferry her to a flat in Rochdale where he and others had sex with her.
He was jailed for six years, however, he was released in November 2014 after serving two years and six months of his sentence.
In July 2015, The Home Office began the process of removing Rauf’s British citizenship and those of two other men convicted alongside him – Adil Khan, 51 and Abdul Aziz, 50 – who all had dual UK-Pakistani citizenship, in order to pave the way for their deportation.
The trio challenged the move, saying it breached their human rights and the rights of their children.
They lost their case at the Court of Appeal in August 2018.
However in July last year the M.E.N. reported that it was believed they remained in Rochdale, with one terrified victim having bumped into her freed abuser Khan while shopping in Asda.
And in pictures published in a national newspaper yesterday, Rauf has been reportedly pictured shopping in the town.
Raof was said to have been stocking a trolly up with fizzy drinks at a store, as well as clutching a takeaway food delivery bag.
The deputy mayor of Greater Manchester, with responsibility for policing, Bev Hughes, has previously called for all three men to be deported “as swiftly as possible” saying their “continued presence in the community will doubtless be very distressing to those affected by the appalling crimes they perpetrated.”
The former GMP detective who worked on the case before resigning and turning whistleblower, Maggie Oliver, tweeted yesterday saying: “The Rochdale case continues to expose monumental failures in our so-called Criminal ‘Justice’ system which is broken.
“The failures just go on and on .... ” The M.E.N. has contacted the Home Office for comment.
A spokesman for the department told The Sun: “The cases of the foreign national offenders involved in these crimes have recently been reviewed at the request of the Home Secretary and we intend to update the victims through the proper channels.”