Freed Rochdale grooming gang leader Shabir Ahmed has been moved to new accommodation after his address was revealed on social media, as the UK government faces resistance from Pakistan over his deportation.
Ahmed, who was jailed for 22 years in 2012 for multiple counts of rape and sexual offences against girls as young as 13, was released on licence this month. He had dual British-Pakistani citizenship until his UK passport was stripped after his conviction. Victims were told that the Immigration Act 1971 bars removal of any Commonwealth citizen who arrived before 1973 and had been in the country for five years – a provision that applies to Ahmed, who came to the UK in the late 1960s.
“Pakistan refuses to accept freed grooming gang leader Shabir Ahmed, blocking UK deportation efforts.”
Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood this week said the 1971 Act “should not be used as a bar against removal in cases like that of Shabir Ahmed”. The government has proposed amending the law so foreign criminals guilty of serious crimes no longer benefit from those protections, bringing deportation law in line with citizenship removal. But the Home Office has acknowledged that Ahmed’s removal depends on Pakistan accepting him.
Pakistan is resisting. Tahir Andrabi, a spokesman for Pakistan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, told the BBC: “The government of Pakistan has no connection whatsoever with this matter.” Andrabi said Ahmed’s “heinous crimes demand serious introspection rather than the quest to search for extraneous causes”, insisting the case is “entirely an internal matter of the United Kingdom”. He added: “Regardless of where he was born, the onus lies on where he grew up, was raised, groomed, and unfortunately spoiled.”
Ahmed was one of nine men from Rochdale and Oldham convicted of exploiting girls at two takeaway restaurants. After leaving prison, he was initially sent to 24-hour staffed accommodation and fitted with a GPS electronic tag, but was moved after his location was shared online. The standoff leaves victims wondering whether their abuser will ever be removed from the UK.