Sgt Lutkevitch said local communities were “key in helping us be one step ahead of the criminals”.
He said people should “trust their instinct”.
“If something doesn’t feel right; report it.
“If you think somebody is being exploited, or you think a house might have been taken over by drug dealers, feed that information to us.”
He added that “exploitation, coercion, and violence” were the foundations of modern slavery and drugs trafficking and gangs would “often exploit the vulnerable to further their profits”.
“Our arrests are part of a longstanding investigation into several organised crime groups operating across Rochdale that we strongly believe are involved in the exploitation of young people,” he said.
