South Asian communities are hampering investigations into child sexual exploitation in Britain, the children's minister, Tim Loughton, has warned

He said that a combination of political correctness and racial sensitivities have kept cases of child sex grooming by South Asian gangs under the radar. Loughton made the comments in an interview for the BBC Politics Show in Yorkshire and Lincolnshire, which has been investigating claims that girls as young as 12 have been targeted by organized South Asian gangs. Earlier in 2011, the former Home Secretary Jack Straw was criticized by some after he suggested that men of Pakistani origin often saw white girls as easy meat. A five month investigation by the Child Exploitation and Online Protection Center (CEOP) is expected to reveal that more British children have been exposed to grooming than police and social services had originally thought. The CEOP inquiry was launched after a string of vulnerable young girls were targeted for abuse by a gang in Derby. Victims were given alcohol and drugs before being forced to have sex in cars, hotels and rented houses. Ring leaders Mohammed Liaqat and Abid Saddique were given indeterminate jail terms in January 2011.