Exclusive: Operation Dash was an investigation into a grooming gang in Glasgow, with dozens of young victims and 27 people reported to the Crown – but there are no high-level meeting minutes on file
Police Scotland said they couldn’t find any minutes on their system(Image: EAST KILBRIDE NEWS)
Police Scotland is facing questions after bosses said the force didn’t hold any “Gold Group” meeting minutes relating to the Operation Dash grooming gang probe.
The major investigation into members of an ethnic minority rape gang targeting young girls in and around Glasgow was set up in 2013 by the former Strathclyde Police. It ran for two years, most of that time under the national force.
Officers identified at least 139 potential victims and dozens of perpetrators, with 28 reports being submitted to the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service into 27 male suspects.
However, no large-scale gang trial ever took place and only a handful were convicted. The only gang member to be named was Afghan national Javaid Akhond, who was sentenced to six years in jail in 2014 for targeting three girls aged, 12, 13 and 15.
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The Scottish Express asked for copies of any Gold Group minutes relating to Operation Dash. These minutes record the formal decisions, actions, and strategic discussions from meetings of senior officials managing critical incidents or high-level, sensitive operations – which can include the chief constable.
But Police Scotland stated in response to our freedom of information request: “In regard to gold group minutes relating to Operation Dash, following an extensive search of internal systems, no documents were found of relevance. As such, the information sought is not held by Police Scotland and section 17 of the Act therefore applies.”
Police Scotland’s Chief Constable has pledged to investigate unsolved group child sex abuse cases(Image: PA)
A police insider said: “It is highly unusual to not have Gold Group minutes for an investigation for this high-profile.”
Scottish Conservative shadow cabinet secretary for justice Liam Kerr MSP said: “Now that the SNP have finally bowed to pressure for a grooming gangs inquiry, it is vital that there is full transparency at every level – victims must have confidence that nothing is being withheld.”
We previously revealed that police chiefs were refusing to release the Gold Group minutes into Operation Cerrar, another grooming gang investigation from 2016. It followed on from Operation Dash, which in turn was connected to an even earlier probe called Operation Cotswold.
The force even admitted that releasing the Cerrar minutes would contribute to public debate around grooming gangs, before going on to deny our request anyway.
READ MORE: SNP’s rape gang shame as ministers ignored calls for urgent action on child groomers
During Operation Cerrar, detectives identified 55 suspects, 46 of whom were positively identified. All were from the Kurdish, Afghani, Egyptian, Moroccan, Turkish, Pakistani or Iraqi communities.
They preyed on at least 44 girls, including a core group of six victims. Horrifically, one girl may have been abused by as many as 28 offenders, while another was linked to 23 men. Once again, no grooming gang trial was ever held and most of the perpetrators were either deported or remained at large in the city.
Police Scotland has been contacted for comment.
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