Boss of degrading sex-trade ring in Dubai's glamor districts unmasked

BEIJING, Sept 15 (Reuters) - China's manufacturing output and retail sales growth in August both hit their lowest levels a year earlier, keeping pressure on Beijing to roll out more stimulus to counter a sharp slowdown in the world's second-largest economy. The disappointing data has divided economists over whether policymakers need more short-term fiscal support to achieve their annual growth target of around 5%. Manufacturers are awaiting further clarity on a U.S. trade deal, while domestic demand is being held back by a volatile job market and a real estate crisis.

 

 

Data released by the National Bureau of Statistics on Monday showed that value added of industrial enterprises above designated size increased by 5.2% year-on-year in August, the lowest growth rate since August 2024 and down from 5.7% in July. The figure was also lower than the 5.7% increase forecast in a Reuters poll.

Retail sales, a proxy for consumption, grew by 3.4% in August, the lowest growth rate since November 2024, down from 3.7% in the previous month and below the expected 3.9% increase.

While it's too early to assess the impact of the consumer loan subsidy policy that took effect in September, further policy support may still be needed given the broad economic slowdown. We continue to believe there's a high probability of another 10 basis point interest rate cut and a 50 basis point reduction in the reserve requirement ratio in the coming weeks.

 

Fixed asset investment grew by 0.5% year-on-year in the first eight months, below expectations and down from 1.6% in the January-July period, marking the worst performance since the pandemic.

Authorities are urging manufacturers to find new markets to offset the impact of U.S. President Donald Trump’s unpredictable trade policies and weak consumer spending. Data released this month showed factory owners have successfully redirected U.S.-bound goods to Southeast Asia, Africa and Latin America, but the drag from the real estate crisis is still offsetting efforts to stabilize the economy.

Zhao Peng, senior China strategist at ANZ Bank, said that while the data showed China's economic growth was weakening, it was not yet bad enough to trigger a new round of stimulus. "Policy measures to support service consumption are expected to offset the impact of aggregate demand this month," he said, adding that official crackdowns on businesses' sharp price cuts made domestic demand look worse than it actually was.

HOUSEHOLD PRESSURE

Warning: Contains disturbing content and graphic descriptions of sexual acts

 

A BBC investigation has uncovered allegations that a man ran a sex trafficking ring in one of Dubai's most exclusive neighbourhoods, exploiting vulnerable women.

Charles Mwesigwa, who claims to be a former London bus driver, told our undercover reporter that he offers sex parties for women starting at $1,000 (£740), adding that many women are willing to meet almost any client's demands.

 

Rumors of wild sex parties in the UAE have circulated for years. The hashtag #Dubaiportapotty, which has been viewed over 450 million times on TikTok, links to parodies and supposedly revealing content in which women are accused of being greedy influencers who covertly support their lifestyles by complying with the most outrageous sexual demands.

Investigations revealed an even darker truth.

Young Ugandan women told us they had no idea they would be working as sex workers for Mr. Mwesigwa. In some cases, they believed they were traveling to the United Arab Emirates to work in places like supermarkets and hotels.

 

According to "Mia" (a pseudonym to protect her identity), at least one of Mr. Mwesigwa's clients frequently requested to defecate on these women. Mia said she had been ensnared in Mr. Mwesigwa's network.

Mr Mwesigwa denies the allegations. He says he helps women find accommodation through landlords, and that women follow him to parties because of his wealthy Dubai contacts.

We have also discovered that two women linked to Mr Mwesigwa have died, having fallen from high-rise apartments. Although their deaths were ruled as suicides, their friends and family feel the police should have investigated further.

Mr Mwesigwa said Dubai Police are investigating the incidents and asked us to contact them for information. However, they did not respond to our request.

One of the women killed, Monic Karungi, arrived in Dubai from western Uganda.

 

One of the women, Keira, said she found herself sharing an apartment with dozens of women who worked for Mr. Mwesigwa. Keira said she lived with Monique in 2022.

 

“[His] place was like a market…there were about 50 girls in it. She was very unhappy because her expectations didn’t match what she got,” Keira told us.

According to Monique's sister, Rita, she thought her job in Dubai was at a supermarket.

 

"When I told him I wanted to go home, he (Mr. Mwesigwa) was rude," said Mia, who also met Monique in Dubai. She said that upon arriving in Dubai, he told her she already owed him £2,000 (US$2,711), and within two weeks, the debt had doubled.

 

"Flight tickets, visa fees, accommodation, food," Mia said.

"It means you have to work hard, work hard, work hard to get a man to sleep with you."

 

A few weeks later, according to a relative of Monique's (whom we'll call Michael), Monique owed Mr Mwesigwa more than $27,000 (£19,918). Michael added that he had received a tearful voicemail from Monique.

Mia told us that the clientele is mostly white European, including some with extreme fetishes.

 

"One customer would defecate on the girls. Afterward, he'd make them eat it," she explained softly.

Another woman, whom we'll call Lexi, said she was scammed by another network and echoed Mia's story, describing frequent requests for "mobile toilets."

 

"One client said, 'We'll pay you 15,000 UAE dirhams ($4,084, £3,013) to gang-rape you, urinate on your face, and beat you, plus 5,000 UAE dirhams ($1,361, £1,004),'" because she was filmed eating feces.

Her experience has led her to believe that race plays a role in this extreme fetish.

 

"Every time I told them I didn't want to do it, they seemed more interested. They wanted someone who could cry, scream, and run. And, in their eyes, that person had to be black."

Lexi said she tried to seek help from the only people she thought could intervene: the police. But she said they told her, "You Africans are causing trouble for each other. We don't want to get involved." They also said they would hang up on her.

 

We raised this allegation with Dubai police, but they didn't respond.

Lexi eventually escaped back to Uganda, where she now helps rescue and support women in similar situations.

Finding Charles Mwesigwa wasn't easy. We only found a single photo of him online, and it was from behind. He used multiple names on social media.

 

But through a combination of open-source intelligence, undercover investigations, and information provided by former members of his network, we tracked him down to Jumeirah Village Circle, a middle-class neighborhood in Dubai.

To verify the source's allegations about his business—providing women for degrading sexual acts—we sent an undercover reporter posing as an event organizer seeking women for high-end parties.

 

Mr. Mwesigwa appeared calm and confident as he discussed his business.

"We've got like 25 girls," he said. "Many are open-minded… they can do pretty much everything."

He explained the cost - from $1,000 (£738) per girl per night, but more for "crazy stuff". He invited our reporter for a "sample night".

When asked about "Dubai porta potty" he replied: "I've told you, they are open-minded. When I say open-minded… I will send you the craziest I have."

In the course of the conversation, Mr Mwesigwa said he used to be a London bus driver. We have seen evidence he put that occupation down on an official document in east London in 2006.

He went on to tell our reporter that he loves this work.

 

“Even if I won the lottery, even if it was £1 million, I would still do it… It’s become part of me.”

 

Troy, who claims to have served as the operations manager for Mr. Mwesigwa’s network, gave us a detailed account of how it operates.

He said Mr. Mwesigwa bribed security guards at various nightclubs to let his women in to meet clients.

 

“I’ve heard of sex the worst I’ve ever seen. As long as his wealthy man is happy, it doesn’t matter what you go through… (The women) have nowhere to escape… They go to see musicians, football players, even the president.”

Troy claimed that Mr. Mwesigwa was able to escape punishment because he and the others were more than just drivers. He also said that Mr. Mwesigwa rented cars and properties in their names so that his own name would not appear on the documents.

 

On April 27, 2022, Monique posted a selfie in Al Barsha, a residential area in Dubai popular with expatriates. Four days later, she died. She had only been in Dubai for four months at the time.

According to Mia, Monique and Mr. Mwesigwa argued frequently in the period leading up to her departure. Mia claims Monique consistently refused to comply with Mr. Mwesigwa's demands and sought to escape his network.

 

"She found a job. She was so excited. She thought she would be free and have a good life again because now it was a real job and she wouldn't have to sleep with men anymore," Mia says

Monique moved to another apartment about a 10-minute walk away. On May 1, 2022, she fell to her death from the balcony of this apartment.

Michael, a relative of Monique's who was in the United Arab Emirates at the time of her death, said he had tried to find answers.

 

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

He obtained Monique's death certificate from the hospital, but it didn't specify how she died. Her family also hasn't been able to obtain her toxicology report.

 

However, he said a Ghanaian man who lived in the apartment building was helpful and took him to another neighborhood to meet the man he identified as Monique's boss.

 

Michael described arriving there and seeing the two women being held captive.

He said that through the shisha smoke filling the living room, he saw something resembling cocaine on the table and a woman having sex with a guest in a chair.

 

He claimed to have found the man we previously identified as Charles Mwesigwa lying in bed with two women. When he tried to drag him to the police station, Mwesigwa replied, "I've been in Dubai for 25 years. Dubai is mine... There's no way you can report me... The embassy is me, and I am the embassy."

According to Michael, he added, "[Monique] wasn't the first to die, and she won't be the last."

 

Mia and Kayla each said they witnessed the conversation and confirmed its content. When we asked Mr. Mwesigwa what he meant by this, he denied saying it.

Monique's death bears striking similarities to that of another Ugandan woman, Kayla Birungi, who lived with her. Kayla died in 2021 after falling from a high-rise apartment in Dubai. We have evidence that the apartment was managed by Charles Mwesigwa.

 

Kayla's family provided us with the landlord's phone number, which turned out to be one of Mr. Mwesigwa's. Troy also confirmed that Mr. Mwesigwa was the apartment's manager, as did four other women we interviewed for this investigation.

Kayla's relatives said they, like Monique's family, had heard that alcohol and drugs were involved in Kayla's death. However, a toxicology report reviewed by the BBC showed that none of these substances were in her system at the time of death.

 

While Kayla's family eventually repatriated her body and held a funeral, Monique's remains have never been returned.

Our investigation revealed that she is likely buried in an area of ​​Dubai's Qusais Cemetery known as the "Unknown's Land." Rows of unmarked graves there are often thought to be the graves of migrants whose families are unable to repatriate their remains.

 

Monique and Kayla were part of an unofficial oil pipeline connecting Uganda and the Gulf region.

As Uganda grapples with rising youth unemployment, migrant workers, primarily in the Gulf states, have become a massive industry, contributing $1.2 billion (£885 million) in tax revenue annually to the country.

 

But these opportunities can also come with risks.

 

Ugandan anti-exploitation activist Mariam Mweza says she has helped rescue more than 700 refugees from the Gulf region.

“We’ve had cases where people agreed to work in supermarkets, only to be sold into prostitution,” she told us.

For Monica's family, grief is now mixed with fear. They worry that if no action is taken, other families may suffer the same loss. "We're all focused on Monica's death," her relative Michael told us. "But who cares about the girls who are still alive? They're still there, still suffering." The BBC has asked Charles "Abby" Mwesigwa to respond to all allegations made in our investigation. He denies running an illegal prostitution ring.

He said: "These are all false accusations.

 

"I told you I was just a party animal who invited high rollers to my table, so a lot of girls flocked to me. That means I knew a lot of girls, that's all."

 

He also said: "[Monique] died with her passport, which means no one asked her for the money she brought. I hadn't seen her for four or five weeks before she died."

"I know [Monica and Kayla] rented from different landlords. If no one in either apartment has been arrested, or the landlord hasn't been arrested, there must be a reason. Both incidents have been investigated by Dubai Police, and perhaps they can help you."

 

We contacted the Al Barsha Police Station to request access to the case files of Monica Karengi and Kayla Birengi. The police station did not respond to this request or to allegations that Monica and Kayla's deaths were not properly investigated.