Horrifying sexual exploitation in Dubai's luxury districts: BBC investigation

One of the women who died was Monique Karungi, who arrived in Dubai from western Uganda.

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Mwesigwa showed us his British driving license and said he used to be a bus driver in London, Photo: BBC

Disclaimer: The translations are mostly done through AI translator and might not be 100% accurate.

19.09.2025. 15:14h

Beauty Selina

BBC investigation

During the investigation, the BBC identified a man who runs a network of sexual exploitation of vulnerable women in the most glamorous neighborhoods of Dubai.

Charles Mwesigwa, who claims to be a former bus driver in London, told our reporter, who introduced himself as a potential client, that he could provide women for a sex party for a starting price of US$1.000, adding that many could fulfill “almost any” desire of the client.

Rumors of wild sex parties in this emirate of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) have been circulating for years.

Hashtag #Dubaiportapotty, which has more than 450 million views on the social network TikTok, leads to parodies and speculative stories about women who are accused of being greedy influencers, who allegedly secretly finance their luxurious lives by fulfilling the most extreme sexual desires.

However, an investigation by the BBC World Service revealed that the reality is even darker.

Young women from Uganda told us that they did not expect to be forced into prostitution for Mwesigwa.

Some of them believed that they would work in supermarkets or hotels in the UAE.

At least one of Mwesigwa's regular clients regularly asks to defecate on women, says a girl we'll call Mia* to protect her identity.

Mia claims that Mwesigwa's network set a trap for her.

He denies the accusations.

He says he only helps women find accommodation through landlords and goes to parties with him because he has contacts with rich people in Dubai.

We also discovered that two women linked to Mwesigwa's network fell from high-rise buildings and died.

Although their deaths are being ruled suicides, families and friends believe that police should have investigated the cases more thoroughly.

Mwesigwa said the cases were investigated by Dubai police, adding that we are seeking information from them.

We didn't get an answer.

Watch the video: What's behind the #DubaiPortaPotty trend

One of the women who died was Monique Karungi, who came to Dubai from western Uganda.

Monique shared an apartment with dozens of women who worked for Mwesigwa, claims the woman we'll call Kira.

She says she lived in that apartment with Monique in 2022.

“[His] apartment was like a market... there were about 50 girls.

"She wasn't happy because she didn't get what she expected," Kira told us.

Monica's sister Rita says that she thought she would work in a supermarket in Dubai.

"He [Mwesigwa] was violent when I told him I wanted to go home," says Mia, who also knew Monique.

She claims that Mwesigwa told her immediately upon arrival that she already owed him $2.711, and that within two weeks that debt had doubled.

"Money for plane tickets, visa, accommodation, food," Mia explains.

"That means you have to work, work, work, and beg men to come and sleep with you."

Within a few weeks, Monique owed Mwesigwa more than $27.000, says her cousin, whom we'll call Michael.

He adds that he received voicemails from her in which she was crying.

'Client defecates, then orders girls to eat feces'

Mia told us that the clients were mostly white men from Europe, including men with extreme sexual fetishes.

"There's a client who defecates on girls."

"He defecates heavily and then orders them to eat the feces," she told us dejectedly.

Another woman, who we'll call Lexi and claims she was scammed by another network, confirmed Mia's claims that the urges to defecate were frequent.

"One client said: 'We will pay you 15.000 dirhams ($4.084) to gang rape you, urinate on your face, beat you up, and another 5.000 dirhams ($1.361) if we film you eating feces.'"

Based on experience, he believes there is an element of racism in this extreme fetish.

"Every time I said I didn't want to do it, it seemed to get them even more excited."

"They want someone who will cry, scream and try to escape."

"And that someone [in their eyes] should be a black woman."

Lexi says she tried to seek help from the only people she thought could intervene - the police.

But, she says, they told her: “You Africans are creating problems for each other.”

"We don't want to interfere."

After that, they would disconnect.

We sought comment from Dubai police, but did not receive a response.

Lexi eventually managed to escape and return to Uganda, where she now helps women in similar situations save themselves.

Charles Mwesigwa was not easy to find.

We only found one photo of him on the internet, which was taken from behind.

He also uses several different names on social media.

But, through a combination of open source data, undercover investigation, and information we received from a former member of his network, we were able to locate him in the middle-class neighborhood of Jumeirah Village Circle in Dubai.

To confirm information received from a source about his job - procuring women to provide degrading sexual services - we sent a journalist who introduced himself as an event organizer looking for women for luxury parties.

Mwesigwa seemed calm and confident as he spoke about his work.

"We have about 25 girls," he said.

"Many are open-minded... they can do practically anything."

He explained the prices - starting at $1.000 per girl per night, and more for "crazy things."

He invited a BBC journalist for a "rehearsal night".

When asked about the parties in Dubai known as potty holder (portable toilet) replied: "I told you, they are open-minded."

"When I say open mind... I'll send you the craziest one I have."

During the conversation, Mwesigwa said that he used to be a bus driver in London.

We saw evidence that he listed that occupation in an official document in East London from 2006.

He also told our reporter that he loves this job.

"I could win a million pounds in the lottery, but I would still do this... it's become a part of me."

Troy, a man who claims to have previously been an operations manager at Mwesigwa's network, gave us additional information about how the network operates.

He says Mwesigwa pays security guards at various nightclubs to let his women in so they can find clients.

"I heard about types of sex I've never seen in my life."

"It doesn't matter what women go through as long as his rich men are happy...

“[Women] have no way to escape...

"They see musicians, football players, presidents."

Troy claims that Mwesigwa is able to do this job because drivers and other associates are not used just for transportation.

He says Mwesigwa uses their names to rent cars and apartments and so his name never appears on any paper or document.

On April 27, 2022, Monique posted a selfie from Al Barsha, a residential area popular with foreigners in Dubai.

Four days later she was dead.

She was only in Dubai for four months.

Mia says that before she left, Monique and Mwesigwa often argued.

He adds that Monique refused to comply with his demands and found a way to get out of his web.

"She found a job and was overjoyed."

"She thought she would be free, that she would return to a normal life, because it was a real job, it didn't involve sleeping with men," Mia said.

Monique moved to another apartment, about a ten-minute walk away.

She just fell from the balcony of that apartment on May 1, 2022.

Michael, Monique's cousin who was in the UAE at the time of her death, says he was trying to find answers.

He says the police told him they had suspended the investigation because drugs and alcohol were found in the apartment where Monique fell, and only her fingerprints were found on the balcony.

He received Monika's death certificate from the hospital, but it did not state how she died.

Her family also failed to obtain a toxicology report.

However, he says a Ghanaian man who lived in the same building was more willing to help.

He took Michael to another block to meet the man he said was Monique's employer.

Michael described the place where the women were housed.

He says that through a cloud of shisha smoke in the living room, he saw what looked like cocaine on a table, and women were having sex with clients on chairs.

He claims to have found the man, previously identified by the BBC as Charles Mwesigwa, in bed with two women.

When he tried to take him to the police, he says Mwesigwa told him: "I've been in Dubai for 25 years."

"Dubai is mine... There's no way you're going to report me...

"The embassy is me, I am the embassy."

"[Monique] is not the first to die. And she won't be the last," he added, according to Michael.

Mia and Kira independently confirmed that they were present and heard Mwesigwa utter these words.

When we asked Mwesigwa what exactly he meant, he denied ever saying it.

Monique's death bears an eerie resemblance to the death of Kayla Birungi, another Ugandan woman who lived in the same area as Monique, and died in 2021 after falling from a skyscraper in Dubai.

She fell from the terrace of an apartment that the BBC has evidence of being managed by Charles Mwesigwa.

It turned out that the phone number of her landlord, which Kayla's family gave us, was actually one of Mwesigwa's numbers.

Troy and four other women we spoke to during the investigation confirmed that Mwesigwa managed the apartment.

Kyle's relatives claim that they, like Monique's family, heard that her death was related to alcohol and drugs.

However, a toxicology report seen by the BBC shows that there were no traces of alcohol or drugs in her system at the time of death.

While Kayla's family was able to transport her body to Uganda and bury her, Monique's remains were never returned to her homeland.

Our investigation revealed that she was likely buried in Al Qusais Cemetery in Dubai, in a plot known as "The Unknown".

There are rows of unmarked graves there, believed to be mostly migrants whose bodies were not claimed by their families.

Monique and Kayla were part of a wider, unofficial network connecting Uganda and the Persian Gulf.

As Uganda faces rising youth unemployment, going abroad to work, mainly to Gulf countries, has become a huge industry that brings in $1,2 billion in tax revenue to the country every year.

But such opportunities can be risky.

Mariam Mwiza, an activist in Uganda who fights against exploitation, says she has helped rescue more than 700 people across the Persian Gulf.

"We have people who were promised jobs, say, in a supermarket."

"And then they sell them and they become prostitutes," she told us.

The grief of the Monique family is now intertwined with the fear that other families could experience the same loss if nothing is done.

"We are all preoccupied with Monique's death," her cousin Michael told us.

"But who cares about the girls who are still alive?"

"They are still there, still suffering."

The BBC has asked Charles Mwesigwa to respond to all allegations made in our investigation.

He denied running an illegal prostitution ring.

"These are all false accusations," he said.

"I told you I'm just a party guy who brings big spenders to the table, which is why so many girls flock to my table."

"That's how I met a lot of girls and that's all."

He added: “When [Monique] died, she had her passport with her, which means no one asked her for money to come here.

"I hadn't seen her for more than four to five weeks before her death."

“I knew [Monique and Kayla] and [they] rented an apartment from different landlords.

"If no one in those apartments was arrested, nor any landlord, then there was a reason for that."

"Both cases have been investigated by Dubai Police and perhaps they can help you."

The BBC has asked Al Barsha Police Station for access to the case files of Monique Karungi and Kayla Birungi.

They did not respond to that request, nor to allegations that they did not conduct proper investigations into the deaths of Monique and Kayla.

The BBC was also unable to obtain Monique Karungi's toxicology reports, nor to speak to the landlord of the apartment where she was living at the time of her death.

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