British police arrested nine people in raids linked to AROPL over alleged modern slavery, forced marriage and sexual offenses reported by a former member.
British police arrested nine people Wednesday during raids on facilities linked to the Ahmadi Religion of Peace and Light, a religious group known as AROPL, on suspicion of offenses including modern slavery, forced marriage and sexual assault.
Cheshire Police said about 500 officers from across northwest England executed warrants at three addresses, including the group’s headquarters in Crewe, Cheshire. Six men and three women were taken into custody.
The arrests followed allegations reported in March by a woman who had previously been part of the group, police said. The woman alleged serious sexual offenses, forced marriage and modern slavery that police said took place in 2023. Authorities said all nine arrests were connected to her allegations.
Chief Superintendent Gareth Wrigley of Cheshire Constabulary said the operation followed “a detailed and robust investigation” and sought to distinguish the criminal inquiry from the group’s beliefs. “While those arrested are members of the group, I want to make clear that this is not an investigation into the religion, this is an investigation into the serious allegations which have been reported to us,” Wrigley said.
Police identified those arrested as two American men and an American woman, two Mexican men, an Italian woman, a Spanish man, a Swedish woman and an Egyptian man. The U.S. Embassy in London did not respond to a CBS News request for comment about the Americans detained.
AROPL also did not respond to CBS News. Lawyers representing the group told The Guardian that their client had no comment beyond saying that “any wrongdoing is vehemently denied.”
The Ahmadi Religion of Peace and Light is described as a religious movement associated with the Shiite branch of Islam but regarded as heretical by most Muslims. Its Egyptian-American leader, Abdullah Hashem, claimed in 2015 to be the Mahdi, an Islamic messianic figure, and has also claimed to be the true pope and successor of Jesus Christ.
The group moved its headquarters to the United Kingdom in 2021 after previously being based in Sweden, Egypt and Germany. Authorities in some Muslim-majority countries have taken action against AROPL, including a formal ban in Malaysia and the detention or charging of members in Egypt and Algeria.
The case remains at the allegation stage. Police have framed the operation as a criminal investigation into reported offenses, and any further action will depend on the inquiry’s next steps.
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