A EUROPEAN city renowned for its wild stag dos is at the centre of a drink-spiking “epidemic” targeting Brit tourists, victims have claimed.
The harrowing experiences of several Brits have come to light as cops in Krakow arrest 20 club workers – including dancers and waitresses – for organised crime and extortion.
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Mark Cocks died after being force-fed 22 shots in a Krakow club, Polish prosecutors saidCredit: Evening Gazette
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Mark visited Wild Night in Krakow the night he diedCredit: Alamy
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Tourists told The Sun how they were lured into clubs in the Polish cityCredit: Getty
It comes after the death of 36-year-old Brit Mark Cocks in 2017 – who was force-fed 22 shots in just 90 minutes at Krakow’s Wild Night Club.
Three tourists have now told The Sun how they were lured into clubs with the promise of free or unlimited booze – before being robbed and left in the street with horror injuries.
Victims described the strip club operation as a “well-oiled machine” – with a production line of “attractive” women luring in unsuspecting men.
Rich Howells, 35, alleged he was drugged, jumped, robbed of all his possessions, and “left for dead” in the street after visiting a strip club in the Polish city.
Speaking to The Sun, he said the evening started on a high when he surprised his pals and met them in the city for one of their stag dos.
By 9pm, the group had made their way to Krakow’s market square, where Rich said they were “harassed” by attractive strip club workers.
A few of the men, including Rich, were led down a back alley and up stairs to a pink neon bar.
He was served a free black syrupy shot with his beer and downed it assuming it was Jägermeister, followed quickly by another.
But Rich, from Edinburgh, said he immediately started to “feel a bit strange”.
“I sat and I finished my beer and then they gave me one more shot and then I started to feel a bit strange,” he told The Sun.
“I had a bad feeling so I got up to leave and I opened the door to walk down the stairs.
“The next thing I remember was that I was on the floor unconscious on the street about three hours later, with two police officers above me shouting at me in Polish.
“I was covered in vomit and blood, I had a laceration to my head, and I couldn’t speak. I physically couldn’t move my mouth.
“I just physically couldn’t do anything, so they picked me up and shoved me in the back of a police van. I don’t remember anything at all then for about another three hours.”
Rich said he woke up in a “drunk tank” surrounded by eight other men, floating in and out of consciousness and suffering vomiting and diarrhoea – symptoms commonly associated with sedatives such as Rohypnol.
He said he was made to take a breath alcohol test mid-morning and told he was “over the limit”, despite barely drinking the night before.
Rich claims he was denied a phone call or food and thrown back into the prison cell.
In his lowest moment, Rich considered drinking the filthy water in the steel toilet bowl in his cell to quench his desperate thirst.
He claims he was finally set free about 4pm after passing a second breath test.
“Then they just threw me out into the street with nothing,” Rich said.
“They gave me my clothes back which were completely soiled in blood and vomit.
“I had absolutely nothing – everything had been stolen – and they just threw me out onto the street and I had to find my way back to where I was staying.”
I was covered in vomit and blood, I had a laceration to my head, and I couldn’t speak
Rich Howells
In his absence, his frantic pals had contacted the British embassy, the local police and hospitals, and come to the grim conclusion he may be dead.
They even called his wife, who collapsed in worry.
Rich said all of his bank cards had been maxed out and his phone, wallet, driver’s licence, and cash had been stolen.
The two friends he was with at the strip club recalled similar stories about their nights – with one able to make it home despite being “out of it” and the other discovered on the street.
Rich believes he was hit in the head and sustained a concussion – with a lump and scar still visible today.
He now wants to warn other Brit tourists heading to the popular city.
“It’s just so prevalent, and so many young people go there, especially young men on stags,” Rich said.
“It’s a genuine epidemic. It’s organised crime on an industrial scale to specifically drug and rob vulnerable, mostly British, young men with absolutely no consideration at all for their welfare.
“I could have died. I could have choked on my own vomit in the street or stopped breathing, since these drugs – especially when combined with alcohol – suppress your respiratory system.
“It’s the most harrowing thing that’s ever happened to me.”
He described the Krakow strip club operation as a “well-oiled machine” with a production line luring in unsuspecting men.
Welcome drinks are handed out, groups are separated, and patrons are conned into buying a glass of champagne for £200, or worse.
Another Brit, who asked to remain anonymous for his safety, had a similar experience in Krakow when he visited for a mixed stag and hen weekend.
His group were sold a dream of unlimited booze for 50zł (£9.27) by a club promoter on the city’s main street before disaster unfolded.
He explained: “They started to bring us out vodka. We were the only group in there, it was quite a small establishment.
“The warning sign should have been when I saw a larger man in only his underwear, stumble – seemingly drunkenly but now I know, likely drugged – out of a side room and was quickly ushered back in by two women.”
The York man said some of the women who worked at the club sat by their group and struck up conversation with them, “obviously seeking further engagement and, we assumed, lap dances”.
He said: “However it was also clear that the girls were trying heavily to ply some of us with drinks, especially these pink vodka shots.
“I began to feel strange after having a couple of these shots – not just a drunk kind of strange but woozy and light-headed.”
His group left – but he was “out of it” and taken to a side room.
The young man said he felt out of control as dancers insisted he not look at his phone, which was receiving calls from his friends, and pay them “presumably” for lap dances.
He said: “I do remember seeing the card machine presenting a larger number [than] was said, but was repeatedly told ‘this is just a conversion thing, you don’t understand, this is the amount we said’.
“All of this was done rather menacingly with a man standing in the room.”
I began to feel strange after having a couple of shots – not just a drunk kind of strange but woozy and light-headed
Anonymous Brit victim
He said “whatever was in the drinks that were fed to me” made him “completely unable to put up any resistance”.
He was charged £1,200 before he was cut off by his overdraft limit.
The 22-year-old stumbled out of the club and around Krakow – lost, confused, and missing his phone – for hours until about 9am.
He managed to flag down a taxi and showed the driver a card for his hotel, who recognised it and took him there.
Like Rich, he doesn’t remember the name of the club he visited but said it was on the corner of the main square.
He never got his money back.
Poland’s Central Bureau of Investigation Board recently detained 20 people suspected of being involved in organised crime at strip clubs.
A police spokesperson told The Sun: “This time, waitresses, dancers, as well as managers of the establishments, who supervised, created the commission of criminal acts, but were also liaisons between the staff of the clubs and the ‘caretakers’ from the monitoring center, fell in.”
They said “guardians” – whose job it was to “motivate employees to commit crimes” and punish waitresses and dancers for behaviour failed to make enough profit for the club – were also charged.
Investigators allege the suspects extorted money from “customers of go-go nightclubs” in Krakow, Warsaw, Wroclaw, Poznan, Szczecin, and Gdansk – “among others”.
They accuse the organised gangs of putting tourists into “a state of unconsciousness” before robbing them.
“In some cases, through electronic banking, on devices owned by the clients, loans were also taken out, or deposits or savings accounts were liquidated, and the funds were transferred to the accounts of the companies running the clubs,” they said.
Officers have 129 suspects and – following the recent arrests – 54 people in temporary detention in a widespread investigation which involves the 2017 death of Mark Cocks.
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Brit tourist Rich Howells claims he was drugged at a Krakow club and ‘left for dead’Credit: Rich Howells
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A 22-year-old York man circled on a map where in Krakow he believes he was drugged
Mark died of alcohol poisoning after he was allegedly served 22 consecutive shots in just 90 minutes while at Krakow’s Wild Night Club.
Investigators revealed he tried to refuse the drinks but was plied with them. He had a blood-alcohol level of at least 0.4 when he died.
It is also alleged Mark was robbed of £420 in the club following his collapse.
His grieving sister Samantha previously told The Sun she desperately wanted the establishment to be held accountable.
Mark was remembered as a hardworking person who was “always socialising”, “happy and upbeat” with not a bad word to say about anyone.
Mark, Rich, and the 22-year-old from York are just three of many British men who claim to have been targeted by workers at Polish strip clubs. But there are others.
In late 2019, Dublin man Andrew – who asked that his last name be withheld – claims he too fell victim to the alleged operation.
He was walking home with his girlfriend, then 20, through Krakow’s Market Square when a promoter offered them a “ludicrously good” deal on drinks.
It wasn’t until they entered the club and had gone down some stairs that they realised they were in a strip club.
Andrew told The Sun: “We thought it was kind of funny. We were like, ‘we’ll have one drink’.”
He said the place was “dead” except for another man who seemed “obliterated drunk”.
A woman struck up conversation with Andrew and his girlfriend then brought them some drinks and shots, on the house.
“I started feeling like my throat was tightening, like it was a little bit harder to breathe,” he said.
“And from that point on, it gets very hazy, because we were clearly drugged with roofies or something.
“I remember a very hazy memory of the girl that we were talking to, she separated us, and they led me into a room.
“The next thing I remember, because I don’t know if I fell asleep or not, I don’t know what happened to be honest.
“But the next thing I remember I’m waking up, one girl’s sitting on me, on my lap, there’s another girl in the room who’s the bartender or whatever and she has a credit card machine and she’s like, ‘put your f***ing code in here’.”
His bank declined a request for about €12,000 but transactions totalling €200 or €300 went through.
Four hours later, Andrew managed to get up and found his girlfriend in a back room staring into a mirror.
I started feeling like my throat was tightening, like it was a little bit harder to breathe
Andrew
“I still to this day have no idea if anything bad happened to her, which is pretty terrifying,” he said.
Andrew grabbed his girlfriend and they returned to their accommodation, waking up the next morning “feeling horrendous” – as if they had the flu – and lucky they made it out alive.
One person, who goes by the cover name “UK expat”, wrote in an online review that he spent thousands of pounds at a Krakow strip club he visited with a friend.
He wrote: “From 2am to 5am they got me for close to £3k and my friend for £500 (he got an authorisation text from his bank, which is when he caught on).
“His bank reversed the charges but I’m still disputing with mine.”
The user explained the “first dance for two girls” was about 400zł (£74.23) but there were four more transactions he could not remember making which were “all in the thousands” .
He said: “I recall the lady with the card machine coming into the room every so often for more time/payment.”
Another person called the operation a “mafia heist”.
Someone else – who goes by the name “Krakow victim” – said they would be seeking help from British cops after a strip club “took all my money”, £7400, via Apple Pay.
Another wrote: “Group of friends from UK all drugged and money stolen – why don’t the hostels warn young people about this and various other places!
“Such a massive shame as the rest of Europe comparatively safe. The Polish police don’t seem to give a damn either!!”
Another user, Damien Bruce, claimed he was scammed out of £1,000.
He said: “Absolute w***ers. Obviously I was an idiot to use my card, but was lied to about the price and done me over big time!
“The fact it was in Poland was why I just put it down to being a t**t, otherwise place would of been turnt upside down the next day if in England!”
Poland’s Central Police Investigation Bureau said its case “has a developmental character” so further arrests are “possible”.
Categories: Optical Illusion
Source: HIS Education