LONDON: A British court on Wednesday rejected an appeal against deportation to Pakistan by two members of a gang jailed a decade ago for grooming young girls for sex in northern England.

In a ruling by an immigration tribunal, judges said there was a “very strong public interest” in removing the men — Adil Khan, 51, and Qari Abdul Rauf, 52 — from Britain after they mounted a long legal battle against deportation.

Both Khan and Rauf had been Pakistani citizens and acquired British citizenship through naturalisation. They were finally deprived of British citizenship in 2018, along with another gang member.

They were jailed in 2012 as part of a gang of nine men of Pakistan and Afghan origin living in the town of Rochdale, northern England.

Published in Dawn, October 27th, 2022