{"id":726289,"date":"2026-08-03T16:30:16","date_gmt":"2026-08-03T16:30:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/726289\/"},"modified":"2026-08-03T16:30:16","modified_gmt":"2026-08-03T16:30:16","slug":"wales-news-grooming-gang-in-rhyl-found-guilty-of-plying-teenage-girls-with-drugs-for-sex","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/726289\/","title":{"rendered":"Wales news: Grooming gang in Rhyl found guilty of plying teenage girls with drugs for sex"},"content":{"rendered":"

Four Rhyl men have been found guilty of operating as a grooming gang that raped and sexually exploited vulnerable teenage girls aged 14 and 15.<\/p>\n

Following a three-month trial at Caernarfon Crown Court, Mustafa Iqbal, 43, Mohamed Arshad, 36, and Ziaullah Badshah, 25, were each found guilty of rape and sexual exploitation of the victims.<\/p>\n

Jaswinder Singh, 61, also from Rhyl, was convicted for his role in a conspiracy to traffic the girls.<\/p>\n

A fifth defendant, 53-year-old grandmother Sarah Gray, from Gronant in Flintshire, was found guilty of perverting the course of justice, assisting an offender, and conspiring to supply Class A drugs.<\/p>\n

All five await sentencing on September 25 at Caernarfon Crown Court.<\/p>\n

The abuse began on a spring evening in 2022 when Iqbal, a local drug dealer and takeaway driver, noticed the two victims out in the seaside town.<\/p>\n

He persuaded the 14-year-old, referred to as Girl C, and the 15-year-old, known as Girl B, to come back to his home, where he summoned his friends Badshah and Arshad, who ran Zayns Coffee House on Market Street.<\/p>\n

The teenagers were given alcohol and cannabis and made to play spin the bottle.<\/p>\n

\"Rhyl<\/p>\n

Rhyl is a seaside town in Wales<\/p>\n

| <\/p>\n

GETTY<\/p>\n

Prosecutors told the court that Iqbal, who chose not to give evidence in his own defence, swiftly determined the pair were “ripe for sexual exploitation”.<\/p>\n

The four men were “friends who shared details of what they could get the girls to do” in return for drugs, the prosecution alleged.<\/p>\n

Prosecuting barrister Owen Edwards KC told the jury: “These men treated the girls as sexual commodities. They took full sexual advantage.”<\/p>\n

The exploitation only came to light because of a trip to London organised by Singh. <\/p>\n

\"Jaswinder<\/p>\n

Jaswinder Singh, 61, also from Rhyl, was convicted for his role in a conspiracy to traffic the girls<\/p>\n

| <\/p>\n

NORTH WALES POLICE<\/p>\n

He transported the 15-year-old Girl B to the capital and instructed her to pose as his 22-year-old carer, fearing his sister would otherwise suspect he was involved in “an Asian grooming gang”, the court heard.<\/p>\n

Upon encountering the teenager, another young woman quickly recognised she was in danger, and her subsequent intervention alongside her mother brought the police into the case.<\/p>\n

Iqbal subsequently began grooming a third victim, Child A, a 16-year-old from a care setting whom he collected in his car and used as a “sexual plaything”.<\/p>\n

She ultimately reported him to police after he handcuffed her and forced her to have sex, triggering the prosecution of all five defendants.<\/p>\n

\"Iqbal's<\/p>\n

Iqbal’s convictions were the most extensive: four counts of rape, three of sexual assault, three of inciting a child under 16 into sexual activity, six offences under the Modern Slavery Act, and conspiracy to supply both Class A and Class B drugs<\/p>\n

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NORTH WALES POLICE<\/p>\n

Throughout the trial, prosecutors maintained that the defendants were fully aware the girls were underage, despite the teenagers having claimed to be 17.<\/p>\n

Evidence presented to the jury showed that Iqbal and Arshad had misrepresented their own ages to the victims, telling them they were 22 and 25.<\/p>\n

When challenged about why he failed to correct this deception and reveal his true age of 32, Arshad replied: “I don’t know, sir. I should’ve corrected him.”<\/p>\n

Mr Edwards KC pressed the point: “It’s really pervy for men in their thirties to invite girls into their house. Far less pervy if 22 or 25. Not a couple of men with cars and businesses taking advantage of kids.”<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

A fifth defendant, 53-year-old grandmother Sarah Gray, from Gronant in Flintshire, was found guilty of perverting the course of justice, assisting an offender, and conspiring to supply Class A drugs<\/p>\n

| <\/p>\n

NORTH WALES POLICE<\/p>\n

Badshah acknowledged having sex with the 15-year-old but insisted it was consensual, claiming he only learned her true age after the London trip.<\/p>\n

Gray, 53, was accused of letting Iqbal use her Gronant home as a safe house where he sexually exploited Child A. <\/p>\n

Prosecutors also alleged she laundered bedding after a rape allegation was made.<\/p>\n

Iqbal’s convictions were the most extensive: four counts of rape, three of sexual assault, three of inciting a child under 16 into sexual activity, six offences under the Modern Slavery Act, and conspiracy to supply both Class A and Class B drugs.<\/p>\n

Arshad was convicted on three rape charges, conspiracy to traffic, forced labour, and supplying cannabis to the two girls.<\/p>\n

Singh, of River Street in Rhyl, had denied any sexual contact with the victims and pleaded not guilty to two counts of conspiracy to traffic and supplying cannabis.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Four Rhyl men have been found guilty of operating as a grooming gang that raped and sexually exploited…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":726290,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[35884,924,59,57,58,50,2331,56,54,55,1220],"class_list":["post-726289","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-united-kingdom","tag-across-the-uk","tag-crime","tag-gb","tag-great-britain","tag-greatbritain","tag-news","tag-sgg","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom","tag-wales"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/726289","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=726289"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/726289\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/726290"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=726289"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=726289"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=726289"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}