The ringleaders of an infamous Rochdale grooming gang cannot be deported because Pakistan will not take them back, it’s been claimed.
Adil Khan, 54, and Qari Abdul Rauf, 55, were jailed for leading a nine-strong gang of Asian men who sexually assaulted 47 girls, some as young as 12, after plying them with drink and drugs.
The pair lost appeals against their deportation in 2018, but tore up their Pakistani passports to render themselves ‘stateless’ – allowing lawyers to claim they did not have a country they could be sent back to.
They are both still living in Rochdale, with Rauf working for a takeaway delivery app.
Pakistani officials have now been reported as insisting it would be ‘extremely difficult’ to take back such dangerous criminals and there was ‘no basis to accept them’ because they had renounced their citizenship.
However, sources for the Interior Ministry are said to have insisted that ‘progress’ could be made if the UK entered into negotiations.
They are said to have suggested that allowing Pakistan’s national airline, PIA, to restart direct flights to Britain could help the UK Government’s case. These are currently suspended for safety reasons.
But UK officials have reportedly said this issue was never raised in talks.
The claims, reported by the Telegraph, will renew anger about ministers’ inability to deport some of the UK’s most dangerous foreign criminals.
They come shortly after a review into the grooming gangs scandal by Dame Louise Casey criticised officials for ‘shying away’ from ‘uncomfortable’ questions about the ethnicity of rapists preying on young girls.
In one case, the Whitehall troubleshooter revealed she had found the word ‘Pakistani’ Tippexed out of a child sex abuse file.
Khan, and Rauf, a father-of-five, were jailed in 2012 for raping and trafficking young children in Rochdale.
Six years late, the Home Office won a bid to strike down an appeal by the pair and another gang member, Abdul Aziz, against being deported back to Pakistan.
Aziz ferried victims from Rochdale to sex parties as far away as Leeds and Bradford.
Rauf and Khan attempted to avoid deportation to their home country by relinquishing their citizenship.
Their lawyers argued they are ‘stateless’ having renounced his Pakistani citizenship, and that deportation would breach his right to private and family life under the European Convention on Human Rights.
David Lammy is currently leading discussions with Pakistan on their return, and both the Foreign Secretary and Home Office ministers are reported to be ‘working very hard’ to strike an agreement.
Faith minister Lord Khan, who has strong connections to Pakistan, is also said to be involved in talks.
Several Pakistanis involved in grooming gangs have been successfully deported.
They include Rotherham grooming gang member, Khurram Javed, 42, who was sentenced to two years behind bars; Nayyar Tazeem, 34, who was handed a five years prison sentence for grooming and seven sexual assaults; and Rochdale sex offender Kashif Mahmood, 37, who was jailed for two years and seven months.
Earlier this year, MailOnline revealed that Rauf was working in Rochdale as a delivery driver, prompting fears he might meet one of his victims during the course of his work.
His neighbours in Rochdale were disgusted that he is still allowed to live in the same town where he carried out his vile crimes.
One mother, who lives just a few doors away, said: ‘Nobody can believe that monster is still here, after what he did to those young girls.
‘It’s disgusting. What is the country coming to? Why is he still here?
‘He was living in that house when he was offending, my kids used to go around and play with his kids.
‘Then I saw the police taking his computer away, I saw it on the news, and I was like ‘Oh God, you stay away now kids’.
‘He walks backwards and forwards down the street without a care in the world, past children and everything.
‘He was delivering for a takeaway app last year. He had the sign on the side of his car.
‘I can’t believe he was delivering takeaways to peoples’ houses, just imagine it – you are one of his victims and you open the door to get your meal and he’s there.
‘What if he popped up on the doorstep of a girl he abused?’
The neighbour said it was known among others on the street that his two daughters went to Pakistan to get married, but Rauf did not go.
‘He stayed here. His daughters got wed over there and then came back, but their husbands didn’t come back with them,’ said the neighbour.’
Another resident said: ‘My daughters were young when he was committing those horrendous acts against those other young girls.
‘My two daughters used to go into his house to play with his girls, when they were also little.
‘He should not be back in that house, this street. He should not be in this country. Why has he not been kicked out?’
Another neighbour said: ‘I see him walking around like he owns the place. There are kids all around here and nobody wants that paedophile around here.’
A Home Office spokesman said: ‘Sexual violence of all types is a despicable crime, causing the most unimaginable harm to victims and survivors.
‘We recognise the immense bravery shown by them throughout their pursuit of justice, and protecting them remains central to our mission to halve violence against women and girls in a decade.
‘We have already taken action to ban foreign nationals who groom children or commit sexual offences from being granted asylum, and will do everything in our power to pursue deportation from the UK.
‘More than 800 cases involving grooming and child sexual exploitation allegations have also been identified for formal review, so that these vile criminals are off our streets and paying the price for crimes.’
The Department of Transport confirmed to the Telegraph that an application for Pakistan’s national airline to be taken off the UK safety list, so direct flights to the UK could happen, was still being considered.
