A BBC World Service investigation has identified a man it says ran a sex-trade operation out of Dubai's most glamorous neighbourhoods, supplying vulnerable women to high-end parties and, according to multiple sources, facilitating degrading sexual acts for paying clients.
The investigation names Charles Mwesigwa, who is known locally as "Abbey," as the individual at the centre of the network. Undercover reporting and interviews with women who said they were exploited for sex work in Dubai describe a business in which women were recruited on promises of ordinary paid employment, told they owed large debts and then pressured into sex work for clients who sometimes demanded extreme fetishes, including defecation. Mwesigwa denies running an illegal prostitution ring and says he merely introduces wealthy clients to women for parties.
The BBC's undercover reporter posed as an event organiser and was told by Mwesigwa that he had "like 25 girls" available and that many were "open-minded". He quoted a starting price of $1,000 (about £740) per woman per night and said the sum rose for "crazy stuff." Former associates and victims described how women, many from Uganda, were housed in crowded flats, charged for visas, travel and accommodation, and left with mounting debts that were used to coerce them into continuing sex work.
One woman interviewed by the BBC, identified only as "Mia" to protect her identity, said she was told on arrival that she already owed Mwesigwa roughly £2,000 and that the debt doubled within two weeks. She told investigators that a client regularly asked to defecate on women and force them to eat faeces. Another woman, identified as "Lexi," recounted offers from clients that included large sums to gang-rape, beat and record women while adding payments for additional degrading acts.
Troy, who said he previously worked as an operations manager for Mwesigwa's network, described how the organisation allegedly operated. He said drivers and other staff were used to hire cars and apartments under their names so Mwesigwa’s did not appear on paperwork, and that club security was paid to admit the women so they could be visible to potential clients. Troy said the women had "no escape route" from the network.
Two deaths of Ugandan women who had been living in Dubai flats linked to Mwesigwa form a central and contested element of the investigation. Monic Karungi arrived in Dubai in early 2022 and posted a selfie on social media on April 27 of that year; she fell from a high-rise apartment balcony and died on May 1, 2022, after four months in the emirate, according to accounts by other women and relatives. Kayla Birungi, another Ugandan woman who the BBC says had lived in the same neighbourhood and in accommodation connected to Mwesigwa, died the previous year after falling from a Dubai building.
Family members and friends say both deaths were treated by local authorities as suicides and that investigations were limited. Relatives of Monic said they were told police had found drugs and alcohol in the apartment she fell from and that investigators stopped further inquiries; Monic's family were unable to obtain a toxicology report and her body was not repatriated, and the BBC's reporting indicates she was likely buried in an unmarked section of Al Qusais Cemetery known as "The Unknown." Kayla's family, by contrast, obtained a toxicology report that showed no drugs or alcohol in her system, despite being told otherwise, the BBC said.
Mwesigwa told the BBC that he had been investigated by Dubai police and that both cases were examined by authorities. He said he had known the women and that they rented from different landlords, and he denied claims he coerced or trafficked women. He described himself as a "party person who invites big spenders on my tables," and said he had once worked as a London bus driver; the BBC said it had found a 2006 document in which he listed that occupation.
The BBC said it notified Dubai police and Al Barsha police station of its findings but did not receive a response to requests for case files or comment on the allegations in time for publication.
The investigation places the cases in a broader context of migration from Uganda and other East African countries to Gulf states. Officials and activists say that, amid limited legal pathways and rising youth unemployment in Uganda, many people accept overseas jobs that are sold through informal and unregulated channels. Mariam Mwiza, a Ugandan activist who works to rescue people from exploitation, told the BBC she has helped rescue more than 700 people from the Gulf region and described patterns in which job offers for supermarkets or hotels become fronts for sex work.
Friends and relatives of victims told the BBC they worried about others who might still be trapped. Those who escaped have described difficulty obtaining help from authorities in Dubai; one woman quoted police as saying, "You Africans cause problems for each other. We don't want to get involved," an allegation the BBC said it put to Dubai police.
The BBC's investigation also pointed to a social-media phenomenon that has circulated speculation about exoticised and extreme sexual requests in Dubai. The hashtag #Dubaiportapotty on TikTok, which the BBC noted had been viewed hundreds of millions of times, contains parodies and exposés that the broadcaster said obscured a darker reality for some women.
Asked to respond to specific allegations, Mwesigwa said they were false and repeated that police in Dubai had investigated. He urged the BBC to contact authorities there for more information. The broadcaster said it had sought comment from Dubai police and the Al Barsha police station but had not received a reply.
The BBC has included details of organisations that offer help for people affected by sexual abuse or who experience suicidal thoughts on its Action Line page and invited anyone with information about the cases to contact its investigators.
