KAMPALA, Sept. 16, 2025 — A new BBC Eye documentary and World of Secrets podcast has uncovered harrowing details behind the viral hashtag #DubaiPortaPotty, exposing how young Ugandan women are being lured into prostitution rings in Dubai under false promises of legitimate jobs.
The investigation, Death in Dubai, centres on Charles Mwesigwa, a former London bus driver known as “Abbey,” who allegedly runs a network that traps Ugandan women into violent sex work.
Undercover reporters filmed Mwesigwa bragging that women under his control could perform “pretty much everything” clients demanded. Survivor accounts, open-source intelligence, and secret footage confirm that many women are trafficked through a debt-bondage system—forced to repay inflated costs for flights, visas, and housing through sex work.
The hashtag #DubaiPortaPotty first exploded in 2022, attracting over 450 million TikTok views, with online speculation claiming influencers were submitting to degrading fetish acts for money.
The BBC investigation now shows that behind these rumours lie women coerced into abuse. One survivor, “Lexi,” described being offered thousands of dollars to be urinated on, beaten, or forced to eat faeces—proof that the viral meme hides a grim reality of human trafficking.
The probe also sheds light on the suspicious deaths of Monic Karungi (23), widely known online as Mona Kizz, and Kayla Birungi, who both fell from high-rise apartments in Dubai’s Al Barsha district.
Authorities ruled their deaths as suicides, citing alcohol and drugs, but BBC-verified lab reports showed no such substances in Birungi’s blood. Families of both women accuse Dubai police of failing to conduct proper investigations.
“Behind the viral hashtag was a young woman with dreams for a better life, and a family that loved her,” said BBC reporter Celina Runako, who spent two years piecing together the story.
A former associate of Mwesigwa, identified only as Troy, accused him of “selling humans for money”, adding that women who refused sex were locked in rooms until they complied.
“These girls have no escape route,” Troy said, alleging that clients sought extreme sexual acts specifically because the victims were African women.
Two women working under Abbey’s network have since died. Survivors told the BBC they lived with up to 50 women crammed into apartments, all indebted and fearing they would never be free.
Mwesigwa denied all allegations, dismissing himself as “just a party person” who knew many girls because he hosted “big spenders.”
Uganda faces a worsening human trafficking problem as youth unemployment pushes thousands to seek jobs abroad. Official reports show over 2,000 Ugandans trafficked in 2022, with the majority sent to the UAE, Malaysia, and other Asian countries.
Anti-trafficking activist Marriam Mwiza, who runs Overseas Workers Voices Uganda, said:
“Every month I see a number of bodies landing at Entebbe airport. Most are from Dubai. If nothing is done, we are likely to go back into a state of slave trade.”
Her NGO has rescued over 700 Ugandans trapped in abusive conditions overseas.
Restoring Dignity
Runako emphasizes that the Death in Dubai investigation is about more than one viral rumour:
“This is 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.”
The two-year investigation is a joint production by BBC Eye, BBC World of Secrets, and Thread Studios, offering fresh insight into one of Uganda’s darkest migration stories.
