A former London bus driver is accused of operating an illicit prostitution network in Dubai, exploiting vulnerable young women and coercing them into degrading sexual activities.
Charles ‘Abbey’ Mwesigwa was filmed by an undercover reporter claiming women under his control would do ‘pretty much everything’ clients asked.
The BBC Eye and the World of Secrets podcast interviewed women who claimed they were enticed to the UAE with promises of stable employment, only to be forced into exploitative sex work.
Troy, a former employee of Abbey, revealed that upon arrival, women were informed they owed for flights, visas, and living expenses, and prostitution was presented as the only way to settle the debt.
Troy described the women being compelled into sexual acts he had ‘never witnessed before,’ catering to ‘wealthy men seeking women to realize their fantasies.’
‘They see musicians, they see footballers, they see presidents,’ Troy alleged.
‘It doesn’t matter what those girls go through as long as Abbey’s rich clients are happy. These girls, they have no escape route,’ he added.
Mia (not her real name), who says she was trapped by the network, said at least one of the clients regularly asks to defecate on the women.
She said that clients were mostly white Europeans. Many clients expect extreme sexual acts from the women because of their race, she said.
The investigation aimed to demystify the trending #DubaiPortaPotty, a story of influencers supposedly moving to Dubai to be willingly defecated on by affluent clients for cash.
Charles Mwesigwa was accused of exploiting vulnerable women in Dubai. He told undercover reporters he was formerly a London bus driver
Monic Karungi, a 23-year-old Ugandan woman, died in May 2022. She was wrongly linked to the #DubaiPortaPotty hashtag
The BBC interviewed a woman who claimed she was trafficked to Dubai from Uganda by a different prostitution ring and endured a terrifying reality.
‘There was a client who said: “We pay you 15,000 Arab Emirates Dirham ($4,084, £3,013) to gang-rape you, pee in your face, beat you, and add in 5,000 ($1,361, £1,004)”‘ for being recorded eating faeces, she told the BBC.
‘Every time I said that I wouldn’t want to do that, it seemed to get them more interested. They want somebody who is going to cry and scream and run. And that somebody [in their eyes] should be a black person.’
She said she tried to ask for help from police but they refused to help her.
The BBC World Service investigation explores how challenges like youth unemployment have led vulnerable Ugandans to seek work abroad, mainly in the Gulf states.
While many move through safe channels, anti-trafficking activists say many others are forced into prostitution after becoming ensnared by the promise of regular work.
Troy told investigators that Abbey had a network of young men in Uganda who targeted vulnerable women with the offer of legal employment.
Some believed they were travelling to the UAE to work in places like supermarkets or hotels.
Troy said that women who went against Abbey’s order to ‘repay him’ through exploitative sex work were held until they agreed.
‘If the girls said “I’m not ready to provide sex”, he would keep them inside the room until they agreed. Their only option was to be with Abbey,’ he told the BBC.
Ukrainian model Maria Kovalchuk, 20, was left fighting for her life with a broken spine and limbs in Dubai. She claimed she was left in a coma after attending a party with Russian ‘rich kids’ at a five-star hotel in Dubai. Her mother said her daughter was treated as ‘a pet, someone they could torment’. She was not implicated in the BBC’s investigation into Mr Mwesigwa
‘This isn’t just about one rumour: it’s about the way misinformation, inequality and exploitation feed off each other, and about restoring dignity to women like Monic [PICTURED] and Kayla, who can no longer speak for themselves,’ said BBC reporter Runako Celina
Runako Celina travelled to Uganda to meet the relatives of Monic and Kayla Birungi, a 21-year-old who also fell to her death from a high rise building in Dubai in 2021
Mwesigwa denied the allegations made in the film.
‘I’m just a party person who invites big spenders on my tables hence making many girls flock to my tables. That makes me know many girls and that’s it,’ he said.
The series is available as a podcast and on BBC iPlayer
He said he helps women find accommodation through landlords, and that women follow him to parties because of his contacts.
Two women linked to Abbey also died after falling from buildings in Dubai, the BBC learned. Authorities concluded the deaths were suicides, their families told the BBC.
Monic Karungi, a 23-year-old Ugandan woman, died in May 2022, just four months after arriving. She was wrongly linked to the #DubaiPortaPotty hashtag.
She owed Abbey more than $27,000 (£19,918) after several weeks, a relative said she told him.
Mia said Monic and Abbey had been regularly arguing in the period before she left.
‘She had got some kind of job. She was very excited. She thought she was gonna get free, she was going to get her life back because now that was a real job, no sleeping with men,’ Mia said.
Kayla Birungi also fell to her death in the same Dubai neighbourhood, Al Barsha, in 2021.
A relative of Monic told the BBC police said there would be no investigation into her death as they found drugs and alcohol at the scene.
Lab tests verified by BBC Eye revealed there was no alcohol or drugs in her blood.
Abbey told the BBC: ‘Monic died with her passport meaning no one was demanding her money for taking her.
‘Prior to her death I hadn’t seen her for over four to five weeks. I knew both girls and [they] were renting with different landlords. If no one in both flats was arrested or any of the landlords, then there was a reason.
‘Both incidents were investigated by the Dubai police and maybe they can help you.’
BBC reporter Runako Celina as she prepares to go undercover in Dubai to investigate the deaths of Ugandan women Monic Karungi and Kayla Birungi
Ronah, Monic Karungi’s niece, holds a photograph of her aunt who died in May 2022
Runako Celina, BBC reporter and producer, said: ‘Monic’s story was reduced to a meme online, but she was so much more than that.
‘Behind the viral hashtag and the online abuse was a young woman with dreams for a better life, and a family who loved her.
‘Over the past two years I’ve travelled between Uganda, Dubai and the UK to piece together what happened to her, and along the way I met women who were terrified but brave enough to share their experiences of sexual exploitation.
‘This isn’t just about one rumour: it’s about the way misinformation, inequality and exploitation feed off each other, and about restoring dignity to women like Monic and Kayla, who can no longer speak for themselves.’
‘Death in Dubai: #Dubaiportapotty’ is available on BBC iPlayer from Monday, September 15.
The podcast ‘World of Secrets: Death in Dubai- Season 9’ will be available from September 15 on BBC Sounds.
If you feel distressed by the references in this programme, please speak to a heath professional, or an organisation that offers support such as Befrienders Worldwide. www.befrienders.org
For UK viewers, details of organisations offering information about or support after sexual abuse or with feelings of despair are available at bbc.co.uk/actionline.
