Teenage Girls Allegedly Trafficked and Exploited by Gang in North Wales Seaside Town
Caernarfon Crown Court heard today that a teenage girl was 'gifted cannabis' and treated 'like a prostitute' by a gang of Asian men in the seaside town of Rhyl, North Wales. In police video interviews played to a jury, the 15-year-old described feeling 'gross' while performing a sex act on the alleged child traffickers.
Multiple Victims and Allegations of Systematic Abuse
She is one of three teenage girls, aged 14, 15, and 16, who were allegedly supplied with drugs and repeatedly raped by four men in Rhyl. The court heard that the 15-year-old met Mustafa Iqbal, a 43-year-old scooter-riding takeaway driver and alleged drug dealer, on a street in the resort in 2022 while she was 'high' on cannabis.
She and a friend were invited to his home to smoke, but while there, three men allegedly groped her. Iqbal is accused of raping the 15-year-old, as is Mohamed Usman Arshad, 36, who ran a café. The girl told police she also had sex with another defendant, Ziaullah Badshah, 25, at his flat after going there during Ramadan to smoke cannabis.
Further Exploitation and Attempts to Evade Detection
The teen also described being driven to London by Jaswinder Singh, a 65-year-old 'Punjabi' man, to get a fake passport for clubbing in the capital. She alleged he gave her 'weed.' While in London, police were called because a friend was concerned for her, but the alleged victim said she tried to protect the men, and no prosecution followed at that stage.
Singh, who lived on disability benefits, told the alleged victim to pretend to his sister that she was his 22-year-old carer to avoid suspicion of being part of an 'Asian grooming gang,' the jury heard.
Prosecution's Opening Statements and Charges
Opening the case, prosecutor Owen Edwards KC said the alleged victims were treated as 'sexual commodities.' Iqbal, Badshah, Arshad, and Singh, all of Rhyl, deny more than 20 counts of conspiracy to traffic children for sexual exploitation.
Additionally, Sarah Gray, 53, of Gronant, is accused of conspiracy to supply cocaine and cannabis. She is charged with allowing her house to be used by Iqbal for sexual exploitation and perverting justice by washing bedding following a rape, involving handcuffs, of the 16-year-old girl.
The trial continues as the court examines these serious allegations of exploitation and abuse in the North Wales community.
