An independent research project has tied members of infamous child rape grooming gangs in Britain to criminal networks operating throughout the country, suggesting a link between the sexual exploitation of often young white working-class girls by predominantly Pakistani Muslim men and organised crime groups operating in the United Kingdom.
Launched online this week, the “Network Map” has identified at least 150 criminals or organised crime groups to groom child rapists after compiling publicly available police and court records, in conjunction with interviews from survivors and information from campaigners and journalists.
In an attempt to provide the public with a fuller picture than previously provided by police and previous reports on the nature of grooming gangs, the project has published links between over a thousand grooming gang child predators and drug networks, family members of various organised crime groups, and even “notable individuals” such as councillors and police officers with alleged mob ties.
The project claimed to have demonstrated that such connections were critical in the effort to traffic grooming gang victims across the country. While some ties were bound to exist, given that grooming gangs often coerced their underage victims by plying them with alcohol and getting them addicted to drugs, the scale of the connections has not been laid out.
Hence, the researchers involved in the Network Map have requested that their identities remain anonymous, for fear of retribution for exposing criminality up and down Britain.
In addition to tying grooming gang members to specific criminals or their associates, the project also identified specific routes by which organised crime groups trafficked young girls throughout the country, notably including multiple routes in and out of London.
Long rumoured as a potential uncovered hub of grooming gang activity, London is set to be the subject of the impending statutory inquiry alongside grooming hubs such as Bradford and Oldham.
The inquiry was reluctantly launched by the previous government of Sir Keir Starmer in the wake of a report last year by Baroness Louise Casey, which found that it was the case that Pakistani Muslim men were significantly overrepresented among grooming gang offenders and that they appeared to have specifically targeted white British girls from disadvantaged backgrounds.
The Casey review also confirmed assertions of previous inquiries that police and local officials had downplayed or directly covered up the exploits of grooming gangs out of politically correct concerns, including fearing being labelled as racist or sparking ethnic tensions.
Pakistani heritage London Mayor Sadiq Khan has publicly attempted to claim that the city he governs does not have an issue with grooming gangs. However, he has admitted that the British capital does suffer from other organised crime, including so-called “county lines” drug trafficking groups.
Should the statutory inquiry unveil grooming gang operations in London, it would likely prove politically damaging to Khan, who faces an upcoming re-election race in 2028. Both Khan and recently installed Prime Minister Andy Burnham — who previously served as Mayor of Manchester — have faced accusations from campaigners of covering up grooming in their cities.