UK’s National Crime Agency asked to investigate grooming gang cases

LONDON: The British government said on Sunday it would ask the policing agency that investigates serious and organised crime to help track down more people suspected of being involved in grooming gangs that sexually abused thousands of girls.

The scandal, in which gangs of mostly Pakistani men groomed and raped young white girls more than a decade ago, returned to the political agenda this year after U.S. billionaire Elon Musk criticised the British government.

Under pressure to act, the government said on Sunday that the National Crime Agency would be asked to find more people who have escaped prosecution, building on the work of the police who have reopened over 800 historic cases.

“The vulnerable young girls, who suffered unimaginable abuse at the hands of groups of adult men, have now grown into brave women who are rightly demanding justice,” Yvette Cooper, Britain’s interior minister, said in a statement.

“Not enough people listened to them then. That was wrong and unforgivable. We are changing that now.”

A new report by Louise Casey, a member of Britain’s upper house of parliament, into the scale and nature of the abuse is expected to be published on Monday, a government official said.