Rochdale child sex grooming gang ringleader Shabir Ahmed, pictured, is the first paedophile to be subjected to the new Home Office approach

Powers created to deport terrorists are being used to remove members of Asian child sex grooming gangs with dual nationalities under a new effort by the Home Office.

Home Secretary Theresa May plans to significantly increase the withdrawal of British citizenship for serious criminals with dual nationality, Whitehall sources told The Independent.

According to senior Home Office sources, there is likely to be an 'acceleration of passport strike-outs and potential deportations'.

The announcement follows the uncovering of a series of Asian sex abuse gangs across the country in recent years.

Rochdale child sex grooming gang ringleader Shabir Ahmed is the first such paedophile to be subjected to Mrs May's new approach.

The pervert was jailed for 22 years in 2012 after being convicted of befriending vulnerable teenage girls, plying them with alcohol and raping them.

The divorced father-of-four, aged 63 and known as 'Daddy', was later found guilty of 30 more horrific rapes in a separate trial.

Despite ruining the lives of dozens of young white girls in Rochdale, Greater Manchester, Ahmed last week appealed against the deportation from Britain on human rights grounds.

He appeared before the First Tier Immigration Tribunal in Manchester to appeal against the decision to strip him of his British citizenship, the first stage in the deportation process.

His appeal also includes an appeal to the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg.

Meanwhile, officials are also expected to consider whether any members of the Rotherham grooming gang could also be deported, following their conviction this week.

A Whitehall legal adviser told The Independent: 'There are no limits. It is not just potential terrorists who face losing their UK citizenship. Those involved in serious or organised crime, and who hold dual nationality, can expect similar justice.'

Brothers Basharat, left, Bannaras, right, and Arshid Hussain are to be sentenced today for a string of sex offences. Proceedings for their potential deportation are likely to commence after their sentencing

On Wednesday, six people, including three brothers and their uncle, were found guilty of the 'systematic' sex abuse of teenage girls in Rotherham.

Arshid Hussain, 40, and brothers Basharat, 39, and Bannaras, 36 - known as Mad Ash, Bash and Bono - formed a violent, gun-toting, drug-dealing family who were said to have 'owned' the South Yorkshire town.

The brothers subjected under-age girls to horrific ordeals, raping, beating and passing them between abusers.

After their sentencing today, legal proceedings for their potential deportation to Pakistan are likely to commence.

Arshid Hussain is also likely to face deportation proceedings after his sentencing today

A Home Office spokesman said: 'Citizenship is a privilege not a right. The Home Secretary can deprive an individual of their citizenship where it is believed it is conducive to the public good to do so.'

The powers to remove offenders from the UK come under section 40 of the British Nationality Act 1981.

It allows for a person to be 'deprived of their citizenship either where they acquired it using fraud, false representation(s) or concealment of a material fact, or where the Secretary of State is satisfied that doing so is 'conducive to the public good'.'

An estimated 37 people have had their British citizenship taken away since 2000. Their nationalities include Russian, Somalia, Yemeni, Australian, Pakistani, Afghan, Albanian, Egyptian, Lebanese, Sudanese, Vietnamese, Iranian, Iraqi and Nigerian.

In 2014, a British-born man and his three sons were stripped of their UK passport due to alleged terrorism links.

Another man who held joint Afghanistan-British citizenship was stripped of his British citizenship and left stranded in Pakistan after being accused of involvement in Islamist extremism.

Stripping UK citizenship from foreigners who are not recognised as a citizen of another country is much more challenging, as they would be rendered stateless.

Human rights campaigners have criticised the extended deportation powers as a form of 'medieval exile'.