A nationwide investigation into extortion at Polish strip clubs has led to the arrest of seven more people by officers from the Police Central Investigation Bureau (CBSP). Several cases have been reported in Poland where strip-club customers were either forced to pay excessively high prices for drinks or were drugged so that criminals could use their bank cards.
The National Prosecution’s press service stated that “the prosecutor has charged the seven detainees with participation in an organized crime group and committing a number of incidents of robbery and extortion against customers of clubs that operated in Krakow and Warsaw”. The group’s victims were often given psychoactive substances in their drinks so that later they could pay exorbitant prices for drinks and services at the clubs, with some waking up to find their bank accounts emptied.
The perpetrators used payment cards or other financial instruments to make transactions for goods and services that they falsely claimed were offered in the club, taking advantage of the victims’ psychophysical state.
She added that, in some cases, the client’s devices were used to take loans or transfer funds accumulated in the clients’ saving accounts to the accounts of companies running the clubs.
The detained people include club managers and employees.
“The charges were presented both to persons who directly committed the crimes on the premises of the clubs, including waitresses and dancers, but also the managers of premises who supervised… prohibited acts to the detriment of club customers,” the National Prosecution (PK) said.
The managers were also liaisons between the club’s staff and the so-called ‘guardian’ from a monitoring center, whose tasks included motivating subordinate employees to commit crimes as well as disciplining and punishing waitresses and dancers for acts that could harm the criminal group, the PK added.
The recent arrests are part of a larger police operation. In May, 2022, a strip club criminal group was busted in raids on 22 locations across the country. There are already 58 suspects in the whole case, who have heard a total of over 700 different charges. Since then, 31 arrests have been made.
As part of the investigation police are looking into the death of a 36-year-old British citizen who died from alcohol poisoning after spending a few hours in the Wild Night club in Krakow. Four other people were previously detained in relation to this incident.