LONDON: Seven British men of Pakistani origin were on Monday found guilty of sexually grooming and abusing young girls in the northern England town of Rotherham.
Mohammed Imran Ali Akhtar, 37, Asif Ali, 33, Tanweer Ali, 37, Salah Ahmed El-Hakam, 39, Nabeel Kurshid, 35, Iqlak Yousaf, 34, and a seventh man who cannot be named for legal reasons, were convicted after a trial at Sheffield Crown Court.
The gang are due to be sentenced on November 16.
The trial heard how they abused five young girls over a seven year period and were convicted of offences including rape and indecent assault.
An eighth man, Ajmal Rafiq, 39, was found not guilty of one count of false imprisonment and one count of indecent assault.
The convictions are the latest to come out of Operation Stovewood, the UK National Crime Agency's (NCA) investigation into child sexual exploitation in Rotherham, which has identified more than 1,500 victims.
During the latest trial, the jury was told that the men preyed on the girls' vulnerability before they were sexually assaulted and passed on to other men.
Prosecutor Michelle Colborne said the girls had been "lured by the excitement of friendship with older Asian youths" but were then "targeted, sexualised and in some instances subjected to acts of a degrading and violent nature".