Northumbria Police want to speak to 80 female victims or witnesses to sexual exploitation in Newcastle
Arrests total now stands at 30 after Northumbria Police's Operation Sanctuary involves three further men being questioned over a city rape
Police investigating allegations of sexual exploitation on Tyneside now want to speak to 80 women.
The announcement from Northumbria Police this morning came as three further men were arrested on Tuesday on suspicion of conspiracy to rape as part of Operation Sanctuary.
The total of people arrested by officers now stands at 30, and includes two women.
The arrests were made in Newcastle after a woman in her twenties attended a police station in the early hours of Tuesday morning.
Raids which led to the arrests of 27 people last week were made in the west and east ofNewcastle, Gateshead and South Tyneside.
Deputy Chief Constable Steve Ashman said police now had the names of 80 women they will contact in the next week, all of whom he said are linked by ‘vulnerability’.
He said: “The one thread through this is vulnerability. Vulnerability by an addiction to alcohol, or substance misuse, in some cases the women will have learning difficulties. They are the vulnerable girls and women living in our city.
“They might be the people who live in your street, or the girls who go to school with your sons and daughters. You will know who these people are. What we are saying to the public is if something doesn’t look right or feel right we would encourage them to contact the police to prevent them becoming the next generation of victims of alleged abuse.”
Some of the teenagers and young women who have made allegations which led to the initial phase of arrests were either in the care of a local authority or had left care.
Anyone with any information should call Northumbria Police on 101.
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