Yorkshire police officer and 15 Halifax men appear in court charged with child sexual exploitation offences

The allegations against the defendants are from 2006 to 2009 against three female victims, who were aged between 13 and 16 years old at the time of the alleged offences.

Amjad Ditta, also known as Amjad Hussain, 35, was a serving police officer with West Yorkshire Police and based with the force's Protective Services Operations at the time of the alleged offence in 2009. He has since been suspended from duty.

Ditta has been charged with sexual touching.

Appearing at Bradford Magistrates Court on Monday morning, he spoke only to confirm his name, date of birth and address.

A total of 15 other men also appeared alongside Ditta on Monday morning.

Those charged are:

Christopher Eastwood, 45 of Halifax, who is charged with two counts of rape and two counts of the supply of a class C drug;

Vaqaas Abbas, 30 of Halifax, charged with three counts of rape and three counts of the supply of a class C drug;

Nadeem Adalat, 34 of Halifax, charged with four counts of rape and four counts of the supply of a class C drug;

Sajid Adalat, 43 of Halifax, charged with rape;

Vaseem Adalat, 33 of Halifax, charged with two counts of rape, trafficking, and supply of a class C drug;

Metab Islam, 46 of Halifax, charged with six counts of rape, six counts of the supply of a class C drug, two counts of sexual assault and conspiracy to pervert the course of justice;

Mohammed Rizwan Iqbal, 34 of Halifax, charged with rape;

Ishtiaq Latif, 32 of Halifax, charged with sexual activity with a child;

Asad Mahmood, 33 of Halifax, charged with two counts of rape and trafficking;

Arfan Mir, also known as Khalifa Mughal, 36 of Halifax, charged with six counts of rape, three counts of the supply of a class C drug , supply of a class A drug and conspiracy to pervert the course of justice;

Younis Mohammed aka Younis Khan, 34 of Halifax, charged with rape and causing a person to engage in sexual activity without consent;

Nadeem Nassir, 39 of Halifax, charged with rape, supply of a class C drug and making threats to kill;

Shahzad Nawaz, 40 of Halifax, charged with rape, supply of a class C drug and making threats to kill;

Shazad Nazir, 44 of Halifax, charged with two counts of rape and two counts of the supply of a class C drug;

Sohail Zafar, 36 of Halifax, charged with rape and supplying a class C drug.

The men spoke only to confirm their name, date of birth, address and nationality.

The 16 defendants will appear at Bradford Crown Court for a plea and trial preparation hearing on January 20.

Ditta was granted unconditional bail.

The 15 other men were all granted conditional bail. They must reside and sleep at their home address given to the court; contact police and inform them of any plans to travel outside the UK including return details; they must not contact directly or indirectly named witnesses; and they must also not contact any female under the age of 18 - unless the female's parent or guardian has been informed of the charges against them.

Addressing the defendants, District Judge Charlotte Holland said: "These offences are far too serious to be dealt with here and are being transferred to Bradford Crown Court where a plea and trial preparation will take place on January 20."