Five men, including two from Accrington have been arrested in connection with an investigation into historic child sexual abuse.
A 36 year-old man and a 38-year-old man from the borough have been arrested on suspicion of rape.
The home addresses of the men are being searched as part of the inquiry.
The investigation is into historic allegations of sexual abuse dating back to the late 1990s and early 2000s and relates to offences alleged to have been committed in the Blackburn and Accrington areas.
Detective Chief Inspector Claire McEnery, of Lancashire Constabulary’s Public Protection Unit, said: “I want to stress that we are still at the relatively early stages of our investigation.
“Today’s arrests are just the latest phase of this inquiry and further arrests are likely to be made in the near future. Child sexual exploitation is one of the constabulary’s top priorities and the team working on this inquiry is a specialist team set up specifically to investigate allegations of historical sexual abuse and includes officers from the Public Protection Division, who are experts in dealing with vulnerable victims and working with partner agencies.
“We take all allegations of sexual abuse extremely seriously and we would encourage people with any information about the sexual abuse of children, or anyone who has been a victim of sexual abuse to come forward and report their concerns confident in the knowledge it will be investigated appropriately and with sensitivity.”
