Brutal genital mutilations have been carried out on up to 100 000 women and girls in Britain, it was revealed on Sunday.
It also emerged that medical professionals in this country are offering to carry out the illegal surgery.
The barbaric practice, which often leaves the victim with a lifetime of pain and medical problems, has arrived in the UK with influxes of migrants from Africa.
The victims, some as young as ten, are coerced into the procedure by their families in the belief it will make them more “pure”. Campaigners say police are afraid to interfere because they fear being labelled racist.
The revelations emerged when secret footage was published by a Sunday newspaper of three men in Britain - a doctor, a dentist and an alternative medicine practitioner - offering to help in female genital mutilation.
Forward, a charity that campaigns against the practice, said an estimated 100 000 women here have had the surgery and a further 24 000 are at risk of it.
Although perpetrators face a 14-year jail sentence, none of Britain’s 43 police forces have secured a conviction.
Lynne Featherstone, equalities minister, said: “Female genital mutilation is an abhorrent crime and we are very clear that those found to practice it should feel the full force of the law.” - Daily Mail