BBC Pidgin of Tuesday, 16 September 2025

Source: BBC

BBC expose ringleader of shameful sex-merchant wey dey operate for posh areas for Dubai

Monic grow up wit 10 siblings for rural Uganda Monic grow up wit 10 siblings for rural Uganda

Warning: Contain disturbing content and graphic descriptions of sexual acts

BBC investigation don identify one man wey dey run sex ring and wey dey use vulnerable women for Dubai most posh areas.

Charles Mwesigwa, wey tok say im be bus driver for London bifor-bifor, tell our undercover reporter say im fit provide women for sex party at a starting price of $1,000 (£740), e add say many of di women fit do "anytin and evritin" wey clients want make dem do.

Rumours of wild sex parties for UAE emirate don circulate for years. One hashtag #Dubaiportapotty, wey pipo don view more dan 450 million times on TikTok, show links to parodies and exposés of women wey chop accuse say dem too like money, and dey secretly fund dia lifestyles wit money dem get from wild sexual request.

Our BBC World Service investigation hear say di reality even dey worse.

Young Ugandan women tell us say dem bin no dey expect to do sex work for Oga Mwesigwa. In some cases, dem believe say dem dey travel go UAE go work for places like supermarkets or hotels.

At least one of Oga Mwesigwa clients dey regularly wan shit on di women body, according to "Mia", we don change her name to protect her identity. Mia tok say she fall into Oga Mwesigwa network.

Oga Mwesigwa deny di allegations. E say im dey help women find accommodation through landlords, and women follow am go parties bicos of im wealthy Dubai contacts.

We also discover say two women wey dey connected wit Mwesigwa die afta dem fall from high-rise apartments. Although, dem rule dia dia deaths as suicides, dia friends and family feel say police suppose investigate di case further.

Oga Mwesigwa tok say Dubai police investigate di said accidents and e ask us to reach dem for information. Dem no reply request.

One of di women wey lost her life, Monic Karungi, land for Dubai from western Uganda.

She see herself dey share one flat wit dozens of oda women wey dey work for Oga Mwesigwa, according to one of di women, wey we go call Keira, wey tok say she dey live wit Monic dia for 2022.

"[Im] place be like market… na about 50 girls dey dia. She no dey happy bicos no be wetin she expect, she get," Keira tell us.

Monic bin tink say di job for Dubai go be for supermarket, according to her sister Rita.

"He [Mr Mwesigwa] bin dey violent wen I tell am say I wan go back house," Mia tok, she also sabi Monic for Dubai. She say wen she first land Dubai, e tell am say already she dey owe am £2,000 ($2,711) and within two weeks e don double di debt.

"Money for air tickets, for your visa, for wia you go sleep and food," Mia tok.

"Dat one mean say you gatz work hard, hard, hard, you go beg men to come sleep [wit] you."

Monic owe Mr Mwesigwa more dan $27,000 (£19,918) afta several weeks, according to wetin one of her family member wey we go call Michael, tok say she tell am. E add say im receive tearful voice notes from her.

Mia tell us say di clients na mostly white Europeans, and dem include men wey get plenty juju.

"E get one client, e dey shit for girls body. E go shit and tell dem to chop di shit," she explain quietly.

Anoda woman wey we go call Lexi, wey tok say na different network traffic, tok di same tin wey Mia tok, she say di "porta potty" na usual request.

"E get one client wey tok say: 'We go pay you 15,000 Arab Emirates Dirham ($4,084, £3,013) to gang-rape you, pee for your face, beat you, and we go add 5,000 ($1,361, £1,004)'" if you allow us record as you dey chop di shit.

Her experiences don make her believe say racial element dey to dis extreme fetish.

"Evri time I tok say I no dey do, e be like say e dey get dem more interested. Dem want pesin wey go cry, and scream and run. And dat pesin [for dia eyes] suppose be black pesin."

Lexi say she bin try to get help from di only pipo she tink say fit intervene - di police. But dem tell her say: "You Africans dey cause problems for each oda. We no wan dey involved. And dem go hang up."

We carry dis allegation go di Dubai police and dem no reply.

Lexi later escape go back Uganda and now she dey help rescue and support women for similar situations.

To find Charles Mwesigwa no dey easy. Na only one of im foto we see online - and na from back dem take am. E also dey use different names across social media.

But through a combination of open-source intelligence, undercover research, and information from one former member of im network, we trace am go one middle class neighbourhood for Dubai - Jumeirah Village Circle.

To confam wetin sources bin tell us about im business – say e dey supply women for degrading sex acts - we send one undercover reporter wey pose as event organiser wey dey find women for high-end parties.

Oga Mwesigwa appear calm and confident wen e dey tok about im business.

"We get like 25 girls," e tok. "Many of dem dey open-minded… dem fit do evri tin."

E explain di cost - from $1,000 (£738) per girl per night, but more for "crazy stuff". E invite our reporter for "sample night".

Wen di undercover reporter ask am about "Dubai porta potty" e respond: "I don tell you, dem dey open-minded. When I say open-minded… I go send you di craziest wey I get."

In di course of di conversation, Mwesigwa tok say na bus driver im bin dey do for London bifor. We get evidence say na wetin e put down as occupation for one official document for east London for 2006.

E tell our reporter say im love dis business.

"I fit win lottery, a million pounds, but I go still do am… e don become part of me."

Troy, one man wey claim say im dey don act as operations manager for Mwesigwa network bifor, give us more information about how e take dey operate.

E say Mr Mwesigwa dey pay security pipo for different nightclubs so dem go let im women enta to find clients.

"I don hear about types of sex wey I neva see for my life. E no mata wetin you dey go through as long as im rich men dey happy… [di women] no get escape route…Dem dey see musicians, dey see footballers, dey see presidents."

Mr Mwesigwa fit get away wit running dis operation, Troy tok, e say dis na bicos e dey use Troy and oda pipo wey dey work wit am o be only as drivers. E say Mwesigwa dey also use dia names hire cars and apartments, so im own name no dey ever show on paperwork.

On 27 April 2022, Monic post one selfie from Al Barsha - one residential neighbourhood wey expats full for Dubai. Four days later, she don die. She bin dey for emirate for just four months.

According to Mia, Monic and Mr Mwesigwa bin dey argue regularly dat period bifor she comot. Mia says Monic say bin refuse to comply wit Mr Mwesigwa demands and she bin don find way to comot im network.

"She bin get some kind of job. She dey very happy. She tink say she go dey free and go get her life back. She don get real job now and she no go need sleep wit men," Mia tok.

Monic move go different apartment about 10 minutes' walk away. Na from dis apartment balcony she fall on 1 May 2022.

Monic relative Michael, wey bin dey UAE at di time tok say im bin try to get ansas.

Police tell am say dem stop dia investigation afta dem see drugs and alcohol for di apartment wey Monic bin fall down from, and na only her fingerprints bin dey di balcony, e tok.

E collect Monic death certificate for Monic from one hospital, but e no tok how she die. And her family bin no fit collect toxicology report for her.

But one Ghanaian man wey dey live for di apartment building bin dey more helpful, e tok, e carry am go anoda block to meet di man e tok say be Monic boss.

Michael describe wetin e see wen e reach there, e also see wia dem accommodate di women

E say through di cloud of shisha smoke for di living room, e see wetin be like cocaine on di table and women wey dey sex on chairs wit clients.

E claim say e see di man wey we bin previously identify as Charles Mwesigwa in bed wit two women, and wen e drag am go police station, oga Mwesigwa reply say: "I don spend 25 years for Dubai. Na me get Dubai … No way you go fit report me… Embassy na me, na me di embassy.

"[Monic] no be di first pesin wey go die. And she no go be di last," e add, according to Michael.

Mia and Keira tok say dem witness dis conversation and both of dem confam am. Wen we ask Mwesigwa wetin dis tok mean, e deny say e tok am.

Monic death share haunting similarities wit dat of Kayla Birungi, anoda Ugandan woman wey live for di same neighbourhood wit her, she die for 2021 afta she fall from one Dubai high-rise apartment, wey get evidence wey suggest say na Charles Mwesigwa dey manage am.

Kayla family share her landlord phone number wit us. Wen we call am, e turn out to be one of Mr Mwesigwa numbers. Troy also confam say na Mr Mwesigwa dey manage di apartment, plus di four oda women we follow tok for dis investigation.

Kayla relatives like Monic family tok say dem hear say Kayla death bin dey linked to alcohol and drugs. But one toxicology report wey BBC see show say alcohol or drugs no dey her system at di time of her death.

While Kayla family fit repatriate her body and do burial for her, Monic body no ever return to her family.

Our investigation discover say dem probably bury her for one section of Dubai Al Qusais Cemetery known as "The Unknown". E feature rows and rows of unmarked graves, we pipo typically tink say belong to migrants wey dia family no fit repatriate dia bodies.

Monic and Kayla bin dey part of one wider, unofficial pipeline wey dey connect Uganda to di Gulf.

As Uganda dey battle wit rising youth unemployment, moving to work abroad - mainly for di Gulf states – don become very huge industry wey dey contribute $1.2bn (£885m) of tax revenue to di kontri each year.

For Monic family, grief now don tie to fear. Fear for oda families wey fit suffer di same loss dem suffer, if authorities no do anytin.

"All of us dey mourn Monica death," her relative Michael tell us. "But who dey dia for di girls wey still dey alive? Dem still dey there. Still dey suffer."

BBC ask Charles "Abbey" Mwesigwa to respond to all di allegations for our investigation. E deny di accuse say im dey run illegal prostitution ring.

E tok say: "All these na false allegations.

"I dey tell you I just be party pesn wey dey invite big spenders on my tables, dis dey make many girls flock [to] my table. Na wetin make me sabi many girls be dat and nothing join."

E also say: "[Monic] die wit her passport, wey mean say nobody dey ask her for money. I no see her for ova four to five weeks bifor her death.

"I know say [Monic and Kayla] and [dem] dey rent wit different landlords. If dem no arrest anybody or di landlords for di two flats, e mean say e get why. Dubai police investigate di two incidents, dem go fit help you."

BBC contact Al Barsha Police Station to request to see di case files for Monic Karungi and Kayla Birungi. Dem no respond to di request or to di allegations say dme no properly torchlight Monica and Kayla deaths.

BBC no see any toxicology reports in relation to Monic Karungi, or follow di landlord of di apartment wia she bin dey live bifor she die tok.

.If you get any information to add to dis investigation please contact runako@bbc.co.uk

.Details of organisations wey dey offer information about or support afta sexual abuse or wit feelings of despair dey available for bbc.co.uk/actionline.



Warsan Tower for Dubai, wia Monic Karungi fall from for May 2022



Mwesigwa show us im UK driving licence and say im be former London bus driver



Troy say im bin work as driver, den operations manager for Charles Mwesigwa



Di final selfie Monic bifor her death



Kayla Birungi, anoda Ugandan, wey also die afta she fall from one Dubai high-rise building



Monic family for rural Uganda say Monic bin always get ambition to find beta life