UK Police Raid AROPL HQ, Arresting 12 in 500-Officer Slavery and Trafficking Probe
Updated
Updated · The Guardian · May 26
UK Police Raid AROPL HQ, Arresting 12 in 500-Officer Slavery and Trafficking Probe
3 articles · Updated · The Guardian · May 26
Twelve people were arrested after 500 officers raided the Ahmadi Religion of Peace and Light headquarters in Crewe in April over allegations including modern-day slavery, human trafficking, forced marriage and rape.
Cheshire Police said Operation Decker targets individuals rather than the sect itself and stems from allegations by a woman now in the Republic of Ireland; all 12 suspects have since been bailed pending further inquiries.
The raid has revived hopes for answers in the 2019 disappearance of German national Lisa Wiese, a former member who vanished in Kerala four days after arriving in India and whose Gmail account was deleted two days later.
Wiese's ex-husband said German and Indian investigators had long wanted to question the same AROPL member but made little progress, and he is urging UK police to widen their inquiry to examine her case.
Seven years on, Wiese's family still has no explanation, underscoring how the UK probe could become the first significant opening in a stalled cross-border investigation.
After a UK raid on a sect for slavery, can police solve a member's 2019 disappearance in India?
A sect is accused of slavery. Could a missing woman be just one of many victims hidden within the group?