Britain's grooming gangs: Sanction countries like Pakistan for rejecting deportations, says minister

Mrs Farris added that the deportation of foreign national offenders is “embedded in our law” and that “it sounds sensible” for countries such as Pakistan to face sanctions if they block the process.

The minister made her comment as the Home Office announced that a specialist grooming gangs taskforce had made over 400 arrests.

BRITAIN'S GROOMING GANG ACTIVITY EXPOSED: WATCH FULL INTERVIEW HERE

The taskforce has trained some 550 officers and protected more than 4,000 victims, the Home Office said.

Police have secured several high-profile convictions of rape-gang abusers, but deportations of foreign-national offenders are rarer.

Grooming gangs: Civil Servants RESIST visa SANCTIONS on countries rejecting deportations

The Nationality and Borders Act introduced a power to impose visa penalties on countries that do not cooperate on the removal of its nationals who do not have a right to be in the UK in 2022.

The power has yet to be used, reportedly due to opposition from civil servants in the Foreign Office.

Mrs Farris’ reference to the sanction power as “sensible” comes while foreign grooming gang abusers remain in Britain despite being facing deportation orders after being convicted for their sick crimes.

Qari Abdul Rauf, 54, was part of a nine-strong gang of predominantly Pakistani men convicted of sex offences against girls in Rochdale in 2012. During the trial, Rauf said that the “all-white jury” was incapable of giving appropriate justice.

During his two years of appalling abuse, dozens of girls as young as 12 were raped.

Jailed for six years, Rauf was released after serving just two-and-a-half years behind bars.

Rauf was ordered him to be sent back to Pakistan alongside his rape-gang associate Adil Khan, who impregnated a child amid his campaign of abuse.

Both men, of dual British-Pakistani heritage, have fought their deportation orders for almost a decade.

They lost their case against deportation in 2018 but launched an appeal on human rights grounds, which was also denied.

However, they both remain in Britain, living alongside the girls they targeted during their years of abuse.

Fred de Fossard, Director of Parliamentary Affairs at the Legatum Institute, said: “Britain negotiates returns agreements with countries all over the world to ensure foreign national offenders and those without the right to remain can be deported with ease. This works well with countries like Vietnam and Albania, and there should be no exception made for Pakistan.”

He added: “Pakistan is offered around 50,000 visas per year by the UK, and receives billions in foreign aid and remittances.

“It is entirely sensible for the British government to use visa penalties as leverage to ensure the deportation of criminals like those convicted of grooming gang offences with Pakistani citizenship. These powers exist in law and the government should use them.”