Five men arrested as detectives investigate historic child sexual exploitation in Oldham
The suspects, aged between 37 and 54, were detained on Wednesday morning, 4 June, during warrants executed at properties across Oldham, Tameside and Manchester.
The men were arrested on suspicion of rape and remain in custody for questioning.
The arrests are linked to alleged grooming and abuse that took place between 2011 and 2014 and form part of Greater Manchester Police 's (GMP) ongoing Operation Sherwood – "a complex and wide-ranging" investigation supported by Oldham Council.
GMP have said the cases currently involve four survivors, one of whom recently came forward which prompted the morning raids.
Officers from GMP's CSE Major Incident Team have been working closely with the survivors, gathering evidence and intelligence to build a strong foundation for potential prosecutions.
Assistant Chief Constable Steph Parker, GMP's lead for Protecting Vulnerable People, said: "The survivors at the centre of these cases have placed their trust in the GMP of today and have the confidence to support prosecutions, which we hold to the highest regard.
"Our investigative teams are piecing together all the evidence and taking robust action as soon as we can.
"Bringing child abusers to justice is why our detectives work so tirelessly day-in, day-out. It's essential we get this right.'
Six other people had already been arrested as part of Operation Sherwood in earlier stages of the investigation.
Those suspects have since been released on bail under strict child protection conditions while enquiries continue.
GMP confirmed that while the latest group of suspects are not all believed to be directly linked, their arrests relate to ongoing support provided to multiple survivors.
In a post shared on X, GMP said: "We've arrested a number of suspected child sex offenders this morning as part of an ongoing specialist GMP investigation."The action relates to alleged grooming in Oldham between 2011 and 2014. The victim supporting today's action continues to be kept updated.
"Time will be no barrier to getting justice for victims of child sexual exploitation.'
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The force has also recorded demographic data, such as the age, sex and ethnicity of potential victims and suspects, and uses 'intelligence products' to produce 'problem profiles' to detail emerging threats and risks. A recent report by Baroness Casey found a significant over-representation of Asian men who are suspects in grooming gangs in Greater Manchester, adding though authorities are in 'denial' more needs to be done to understand why this is the case. Inspectors also said the force is aware of 'training gaps' in some investigation teams and that some victims had been let down in the way their case was handled. The report also pointed to issues with data sharing, with local councils sometimes not willing to provide detectives with information, leading to 'significant delays in investigations' into grooming gangs. 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