Hackney woman arrested on suspicion of conspiracy to commit FGM

Photograph: © Ray Forster (Creative Commons)

A woman from Hackney and a pensioner from Newham were arrested on the weekend over conspiracy to commit female genital mutilation (FGM) on an 11 year old girl.

A 72 year old man was stopped by police at Heathrow Airport early Friday morning when he arrived with the girl on a flight from Uganda.

The girl, who is a UK national, was taken into the care of social services by specialist officers.

Following an investigation a 40 year old woman was then arrested in Hackney.

In a statement the Metropolitan Police said: “Officers acted upon information given and a 40-year-old woman was arrested in Hackney under Section 2 of FGM Act 2003 – ‘aiding, abetting, counselling or procuring a girl to carry out FGM on herself’.”

The man, who is a Ugandan national, was arrested on Saturday in Newham for the same offence.

The pair have now been bailed pending further investigation.