Seven Asian Men Convicted in Landmark Rochdale Grooming Case

Seven men of Asian descent have been convicted of sexually abusing two vulnerable white schoolgirls in Rochdale. This disturbing case uncovered years of grooming and exploitation.

Law enforcement stated that the defendants targeted the victims’ vulnerabilities, grooming them as “sex slaves” starting at the age of 13 during various incidents from 2001 to 2006 in the Greater Manchester area.

Both girls came from “deeply troubled backgrounds,” and were provided with drugs, alcohol, cigarettes, shelter, and companionship. This coercion led them to be expected to engage in sexual acts “whenever and wherever” the defendants and other individuals desired, including in filthy apartments, on dirty mattresses, in cars, parking lots, alleyways, and abandoned warehouses.

The jury took three weeks to reach their unanimous guilty verdicts, which were announced on Friday.

Three of the men involved—Mohammed Zahid, 64; Mushtaq Ahmed, 67; and Kasir Bashir, 50—were stall vendors at the local indoor market and were all born in Pakistan.

Zahid, referred to as “Boss Man,” reportedly gave the victims undergarments from his lingerie stall, along with money, alcohol, and food, in exchange for sexual favors.

In 2016, Zahid was sentenced to five years in prison in connection with a different grooming case after engaging in sexual acts with a 15-year-old girl who visited his stall to buy tights for school.

Bashir did not attend the current trial, but reports indicate he fled while on bail prior to the trial’s start.

Co-defendants Mohammed Shahzad, 44; Naheem Akram, 48; and Nisar Hussain, 41, were taken into custody in January, with their bail revoked before the jury was sworn in. Authorities had received intelligence suggesting these Rochdale-born taxi drivers were planning to leave the UK and had already made payment for their escape plan.

All three denied the charges, but Judge Jonathan Seely stated the court couldn’t take the chance of them fleeing.

The seventh defendant, Roheez Khan, 39, who was also born in Pakistan, was previously involved in another Rochdale grooming trial in 2013, where he was convicted for the sexual exploitation of a “profoundly vulnerable” 15-year-old girl in incidents dating back to 2008 and 2009.

Khan received a six-and-a-half-year sentence for engaging in sexual activity with a minor and for witness intimidation.