this issue was floated as a potential bargaining chip
Two convicted ringleaders of the Rochdale grooming gang cannot be deported because Pakistan has refused to take them, it has been claimed.
Adil Khan and Qari Abdul Rauf were jailed for their role in the notorious abuse ring that saw at least 47 young girls, some as young as 12, sexually assaulted after being plied with alcohol and drugs.
The pair lost their appeals against deportation in 2022. However, they tore up their Pakistani passports and renounced their citizenship to render themselves “stateless”.
Now, Pakistani authorities have reportedly said there is “no basis to accept them” due to their lack of citizenship, and that it would be “extremely difficult” to take them back.
However, Interior Ministry sources are said to believe that “progress” could be made if the UK agreed to reopen talks.
Officials in Islamabad are reportedly seeking the resumption of direct flights between the UK and Pakistan via Pakistan International Airlines (PIA), which remain suspended over safety concerns.
According to sources, this issue was floated as a potential bargaining chip in return for cooperation on deportations.
UK officials have denied that flight access was ever discussed in formal talks.
But the claims, reported by The Telegraph, have renewed public anger over the government’s inability to deport some of the country’s most dangerous foreign criminals.
The controversy comes after a major audit by Baroness Casey criticised officials for avoiding “uncomfortable” questions around the ethnicity of grooming gang members targeting white working-class girls.
In one disturbing case, Baroness Casey discovered the word “Pakistani” had been Tippexed out of a child sex abuse report.
Khan and Rauf were jailed in 2012 for raping and trafficking children in Rochdale. Six years later, the Home Office won its case to strike down their appeal, alongside another gang member, Abdul Aziz.
Despite the ruling, both Khan and Rauf avoided deportation by renouncing their Pakistani citizenship. Their lawyers argued that doing so made them “stateless” and that removal would breach their right to private and family life under the European Convention on Human Rights.
Talks are ongoing between the UK and Pakistan.
Foreign Secretary David Lammy is leading negotiations, alongside ministers from the Home Office. Faith Minister Lord Khan, who has close ties to Pakistan, is also reportedly involved.
A number of Pakistani nationals convicted in similar cases have been deported, including:
- Khurram Javed, aged 42, of the Rotherham grooming gang, who served a two-year sentence.
- Nayyar Tazeem, aged 34, who received five years for grooming and multiple sexual assaults.
- Kashif Mahmood, aged 37, a Rochdale offender jailed for over two years.
But Rauf and Khan remain in the UK.
It was previously revealed that Rauf was working for a takeaway app in Rochdale, raising fears he could encounter one of his victims.
Neighbours in the area expressed horror that he remains in the same community where his crimes occurred.
One mother, who lives nearby, 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 same neighbour added that while Rauf’s daughters travelled to Pakistan to marry, he remained in Rochdale:
“He stayed here. His daughters got wed over there and then came back, but their husbands didn’t come back with them.”
A Home Office spokesperson 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 government’s failure to remove Khan and Rauf, despite years of legal and political efforts, is likely to further intensify debate over border enforcement, human rights law, and community safety.
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