A police constable is among 16 men charged as part of an investigation into allegations of child sexual exploitation.

West Yorkshire police said the charges related to alleged offences against three teenage girls in Halifax between 2006 and 2009. The alleged victims were aged between 13 and 16 at the time.

One of those charged, Amjad Ditta, 35, was a constable based within West Yorkshire police’s protective services operations, the force said. He has been suspended from duty and is to appear at Bradford magistrates court on 6 January alongside the other 15 men. The force said he was a serving police officer at the time of an alleged offence in 2009.

Those charged, who are all from Halifax, are: