Eleven people have been arrested under Operation Heliodor, in a crackdown on child sexual exploitation in the South Manchester area, Greater Manchester Police have confirmed.
According to a statement from GMP, six warrants have been executed and eleven people aged between 19 and 38 have been arrested for offences including sexual activity with a child, attempted indecent assault, inciting a child into prostitution, abduction and rape.
The arrests came after months of intervention by the Protect team, into the sexual exploitation of girls and its links to organised crime in and around the Longsight area, and other areas within Greater Manchester.
Detective Inspector Debbie Oakes of the Greater Manchester Police’s Protect Team, said:
“Tackling child sexual exploitation and those responsible for such heinous crimes is an absolute priority for us.
“I want to assure our communities that combatting CSE is a Force priority for GMP and we would encourage anyone who is a victim of this kind of abuse to come to either us, a family member or the charities and support agencies who are out there and help us bring the offenders to justice.
“We have forged strong links with our partner agencies, including Barnardo’s and NSPCC, and by effective safeguarding and partnership disruption of perpetrators, we can tackle this problem head on.
“Operation Heliodor is ongoing and, with this collaborative approach we will continue to target those involved in CSE. I fully anticipate more warrants and arrests as we continue in our investigation.”
Child Sexual Exploitation in the area has been a huge concern for everyone, not least agencies whose behaviour is under the microscope after the scale of the abuse and lack of action was realised.
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