Iranian workers at Chelmsford pizza shop accused of drugging and raping underage teen girls

It was obviously not going to be confined to norhtern mill towns, even if the corruption in Rotherham was on a grand scale. This is from Essex Live. 

A gang of Iranian men sexually exploited and groomed vulnerable girls by supplying them with drugs and offering them free pizza, a court heard.

All three victims, who were as young as 16, were allegedly targeted by the group of takeaway workers who “farmed them out like cattle” to other men.

The group’s ring leaders were allegedly Mohammed Rostami, 37, Mehdi Zare, 32, and Amin Kaveh, 35, all of whom had links to pizza shops in Chelmsford.

Opening the case at Chelmsford Crown Court on Monday, prosecutor Christopher Paxton claimed they would pick the girls up from the shops before plying them with highly-addictive drugs, including cocaine and methadone.

This lead to the vulnerable girls quickly becoming pawns, who would have sex with anyone for drugs.

One victim was only 13 when she apparently met Rostami, who worked as a chef at Essex Pizza in Duke Street, Chelmsford, back in 2006,

The jury was told that he started by offering her and her friend free pizza before supplying the girl, who had a troubled background, with cannabis.

Mr Paxton explained that Rostami, of no fixed address, would take the girl out in his car before their relationship rapidly turned sexual.

He would pick her up from school while she was in her uniform and knowing how old she was, eventually supplying the girl and her friend with free drugs including cocaine, he added.

She quickly became addicted and by the age of 14 was taking two grams of cocaine a day, worth around £100.Mr Paxton said: “After a few months providing them drugs for free, Rostami told the girl that she had to start earning or paying for the drugs. He said ‘otherwise I am losing money’. It is clear that aged about 14 she would have to have sexual intercourse with much older Iranian men.”

Mr Paxton said Rostami treated the girl like “cattle” and “farmed” her out to his friends for financial gain

Zare would allegedly take the girl to have sex with men from the Iranian community at addresses around Essex and east London.

Amin Kaveh, who was most recently living at an address in Shoebury, also knew the victim through the pizza shop and would allegedly supply them with drugs in exchange for sex.

The second victim was a girl who grew up abroad and moved back to Chelmsford aged 20 in the autumn of 2012.