Hunt for fugitive Rochale grooming gang member who was found guilty of raping and abusing teenage girl as police warn him ‘you can run but you can’t hide’

One of the seven men convicted of exploiting two young girls as ‘sex slaves’ has gone on the run, police have revealed. 

The gang preyed on the vulnerabilities of the victims to groom them from the age of 13 over a five-year-long campaign of abuse between 2001 and 2006. 

Kasir Bashir, 50, was absent throughout his trial – despite answering bail on a weekly basis since being charged in 2023. 

In his absence, the abuser was convicted by a jury of two counts of rape, as well as two counts of indecency with a child.

He is being actively sought by GMP, the force confirmed, and is officially a wanted man. 

It comes as three members of the gang were locked up partway through their trial following ‘intelligence’ that they planned to flee to Pakistan. 

Police said they are determined to find Bashir ‘no matter where he thinks he can hide’. 

Anyone with information about Bashir’s whereabouts have been urged to contact police or Crimestoppers, anonymously.

Kasir Bashir, 50, (pictured) was absent throughout his trial and is on the run, it has been revealed 

Top row, left to right: Kasir Bashir, Mohammed Shahzad; middle row, left to right: Mushtaq Ahmed, Roheez Khan; bottom row, left to right: Naheem Akram, Nisar Hussain

Rochdale’s market has served the Greater Manchester town since 1251 – but two perverted traders used their stalls to groom and exploit young girls, the trial heard (stock image)

Detective Chief Inspector Guy Laycock, the senior investigation officer on the case, said: ‘The men who committed this horrific abuse have now been found guilty of their abhorrent crimes. One defendant, Kasir Bashir cowardly avoided the whole trial and thought he could escape justice.

‘This is in stark contrast to the survivors who gave brave and painful testimony over the four-month trial in front of the men that so badly abused them. We will do all we can to find Bashir and ensure justice is fully served for them.

‘Time was no barrier to bringing these groomers to justice, and Bashir evading the trial, will not stop us ensuring he now faces the full consequences of his actions.’

Both female victims of the gang had ‘deeply troubled home lives’ and were given drugs, alcohol, cigarettes, places to stay and people to be with, Manchester Minshull Street Crown Court heard.

They were expected to have sex ‘whenever and wherever’ the defendants and other men wanted in filthy flats, on rancid mattresses, in cars, car parks, alleyways and disused warehouses.

Jurors deliberated for three weeks before delivering their unanimous guilty verdicts today. 

Mohammed Zahid, 64, was the gang’s ringleader and had a stall at Rochdale’s indoor market 

Rochdale is now not synonymous with the great achievements of the Industrial Revolution but with what has become known as Asian grooming gangs, the men’s trial heard

The gang’s convictions in full

• Mohammed Zahid was convicted of ten counts of rape; four counts of indecency with a child; five counts of procuring a girl under 21 to have unlawful sexual intercourse; and one count of attempt to procure a girl under 21 to have unlawful sexual intercourse.

• Kasir Bashir was convicted of two counts of rape; and two counts of indecency with a child.

• Mushtaq Ahmed was convicted of four counts of rape; four counts of indecency with a child; and one count of procuring a girl under 21 to have unlawful sexual intercourse.

• Roheez Khan was convicted of one count of rape.

• Mohammed Shahzad was convicted of five counts of rape; and one count of assault by penetration.

• Nisar Hussain was convicted of two counts of rape; and one count of assault by penetration.

• Naheem Akram was convicted of six counts of rape; and one count of assault by penetration

Three of the abusers, Mohammed Zahid, 64, Mushtaq Ahmed, 67, and Bashir – all born in Pakistan – were stallholders on Rochdale’s indoor market.

The gang’s depraved ringleader Zahid was even known as ‘Knickerman’ because of his underwear stall at the centuries-old trading hub.

The pot-bellied, wispy-haired father-of-three exploited his products’ appeal to young girls to lure in vulnerable youngsters who were then subjected to ‘years of misery’.  

In 2016, Zahid was jailed for five years in an earlier grooming gang case after he engaged in sexual activity in 2006 with a 15-year-old girl who he met when she visited his stall to buy tights for school.

Bashir did not attend the current trial as jurors were ordered not to speculate why but it can be revealed that he absconded while on bail before the trial got under way.

It can also be reported that co-defendants Mohammed Shahzad, 44, Naheem Akram, 48, and Nisar Hussain, 41, were remanded in custody with their bail revoked in January before the jury was sworn in.

A seventh defendant, Pakistani-born Roheez Khan, 39, also featured in another previous Rochdale grooming trial in 2013 when he was one of five men convicted of sexually exploiting a ‘profoundly vulnerable’ 15-year-old girl in 2008 and 2009.

Khan was jailed for six-and-a-half years for engaging in sexual activity with a child and witness intimidation.

Starting when they were aged just 13, two terrified girls were ‘passed around’ for sex between fellow traders and taxi drivers – all from Rochdale’s Pakistani community – between 2001 and 2006.

They would then be callously ‘discarded’, jurors in a ten-week trial heard.

Following a string of successful prosecutions which made the Greater Manchester town grimly synonymous with the scourge of grooming gangs, the victims – now in their 30s – decided to come forward to seek justice over their ordeals.

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