A seven-strong gang of criminals are guilty of raping and sexually abusing two girls under the age of 16 in Rotherham, with veteran investigators saying the evidence was some of the “most harrowing” they have ever heard.

• The girls were between 11 and 16 years old at the time of the crimes in the 2000s
• They were often supplied with alcohol or cannabis before being raped or attacked
• A girl was locked in an abuser’s home before escaping through the window

Seven men have been found guilty of raping and sexually assaulting two teenage girls in Rotherham in the early 2000s, with investigators saying the evidence was “the most harrowing” they have ever seen.

The girls, then aged between 11 and 16, were manipulated and often given alcohol or cannabis before being raped or sexually abused, the National Crime Agency said.

The girls were often picked up from their parents’ homes by their abusers and the attacks took place in various locations around Rotherham, including a park, a cemetery and even behind a kindergarten.

The jury was told how one of the girls was taken to a hotel where she was raped by two men.

The same girl was imprisoned in the house of one of her tormentors, where she was raped at least twice before escaping through a window.

The incident is part of Operation Stovewood, a comprehensive NCA investigation into the sexual exploitation of children in Rotherham between 1997 and 2013.

The NCA confirmed that the offences in this case were “some of the most serious offences ever investigated by police officers”.

The seven men were found guilty of a number of offences on Wednesday after a nine-week trial at Sheffield Crown Court.

Mohammed Amar, 42, of Elizabeth Way, Rotherham, was found guilty of two counts of indecently touching an 11-year-old girl.

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Yasser Ajaibe, 39, of Walter Street, Rotherham, was found guilty of indecently abusing an 11-year-old girl.

Mohammed Zameer Sadiq, 49, of Richard Road, Rotherham, was found guilty of rape and sexual intercourse with a girl under the age of 13.

Mohammed Siyab, 44, of Stevenson Drive, Rotherham, was found guilty of two counts of rape, sexual intercourse with a girl under 13 and trafficking within the UK for the purposes of sexual exploitation.

Abid Saddiq, 43, formerly of Rotherham, was found guilty of three counts of rape, including one of a girl under 13, and of indecently touching the person of a 12-year-old girl.

Tahir Yasin, 38, of Burngreave Street, Sheffield, was found guilty of eight counts of rape.

Ramin Bari, 37, of Derby Street, Sheffield, was found guilty of four counts of rape.

The verdict will be announced on 12 and 13 September in the same court.

The charges follow a five-year investigation by officers from the NCA’s Operation Stovewood, the most comprehensive investigation into child abuse in the UK.

The establishment came in the wake of the Jay Report, which sent shockwaves through the United States in 2014 when it found that at least 1,400 girls had been abused, trafficked and sexually abused by gangs of predominantly Pakistani origin in the city between 1997 and 2013.

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The report by Professor Alexis Jay, who currently leads the independent inquiry into child sexual abuse, sparked a flood of resignations and further investigations after it emerged that police, social workers and other agencies had done little to address the problem.

NCA senior investigator Stuart Cobb said on Wednesday: “The statements made by these victims are among the most harrowing we have ever heard and the offences are among the most serious that officers involved in Operation Stovewood have investigated to date.”

“I pay tribute to the courage of these two victims in coming forward and telling their stories. That was key to these convictions and I hope they feel that justice has finally been done.

“What happened to them was horrific. Their attackers were cruel, manipulative men who thought it was okay to exploit vulnerable young girls and dehumanize their victims in the worst possible way.”

Last autumn, the NCA stressed that this did not mean we were withdrawing and announced that from January, new allegations would be handled by South Yorkshire Police rather than Operation Stovewood.

The agency said it was confident that it had “done everything we could realistically to identify potential victims.” It said it had identified more than 1,100 children involved in the exploitation between 1997 and 2013 – almost all of them girls.

More than 1,150 victims and more than 300 suspects have now been identified.

According to the NCA, Operation Stovewood resulted in more than 200 arrests and Wednesday’s verdicts resulted in 33 convictions.

The agency said it remains committed to conducting its ongoing investigations until the end of the criminal proceedings, which are expected to last until 2027.

Operation Stovewood is said to be the largest law enforcement operation of its kind ever carried out in the UK and at its peak involved more than 200 personnel.

Previous estimates put the cost of Operation Stovewood at around £90 million.