But warnings don’t always help.

Every year, thousands of women fall into the traps of human traffickers.

Some are rescued.

Many are not.

Seven women were rescued from Khaled al-Maktum’s basement only because a repair worker happened to hear screams through the wall and decided to report it.

If not for this coincidence, they would still be there or already dead.

Court documents, victim statements, medical reports, all exist in the archives of the UAE law enforcement agencies.

But many similar stories never become known.

Somewhere right now, in basement, secret rooms, isolated buildings, women and children are being held in slavery, suffering, dying in silence.

And the world keeps turning.

Oblivious to their cries.

Seven men dressed in identical white robes kneel and take turns bringing a glass bowl filled with a thick white mixture to their lips.

According to the survivors testimony, 12bound girls are then forced to drink from the same bowl.

There are no surveillance cameras in the room, but investigators later reconstruct the sequence of events almost minuteby minute from the confessions of the participants and victims.

The history of this group did not begin as a mass kidnapping and violent confinement of people.

For years, a closed circle of wealthy men from the Middle Eastern monarchy discussed topics of spiritual superiority, male power, and ancient mystical practices.

Within this circle, a man appeared whom the other participants eventually came to call the master.

His name was Abdul, and he was a man over 60 years of age.

In his youth, he received a religious education, then served as an imam in a provincial mosque and was dismissed for statements that the leadership considered heretical.

After that, Abdul began privately advising wealthy clients on spiritual practices and religious law.

Gradually, a small circle of regular interlocutors formed around him, people between the ages of 45 and 65, each of whom had considerable wealth.

According to one of the detainees, who later agreed to cooperate with the investigation, the main idea around which the group’s teachings were built emerged after Abdul introduced them to anonymous translations of fragments of an old mystical treatise attributed to a medieval author.

These texts focused heavily on the concept of life force and the difference between male and female energy.

In closed meetings, Abdul claimed to have found in these fragments confirmation of his own theories that women of a certain origin and physical type possess a special kind of life force that can allegedly be absorbed, thereby prolonging health and enhancing charisma.

At first, this existed as a discussion and theoretical construct.

The participants met in private homes, exchanged historical examples, and referred to pre-Christian and pre-biblical fertility cults where bodily fluids were considered to be carriers of sacred power.

Gradually, specific fantasies about rituals, rules, and the structure of the proposed community began to creep into the conversations.

Abdul played a dominant role in these discussions.

He proposed a clear hierarchy, one spiritual leader, several senior disciples and a circle of initiates.

The decisive stage came when the group decided to move from discussion to practical implementation.

According to the same cooperating witness, at one of the meetings, Abdul proposed creating a closed center for testing purification rituals involving young women whom they would regard not as people but as vessels for energy.

The term sacred vessels subsequently became key in their internal terminology.

At the same time, it was understood from the outset that this involved illegal deprivation of liberty and sexual exploitation.

So, they discussed how to conceal their activities from state authorities and public attention.

The choice of location was pragmatic.

One of the group members owned a large villa in a deserted area a few hours drive from the capital.

The site already had technical facilities and an unfinished underground level that was used as a warehouse.

They decided to convert this space into a hidden residential complex.

According to the documents, the work involved strengthening the foundation and creating a secure storage facility for the art collection.

In fact, a corridor with 12 separate rooms, a common area, a primitive medical room, and a ritual hall were built below.

The rooms had no windows, and ventilation was provided through concealed shafts.

Access was via an elevator and a single emergency staircase, both of which were controlled from a security room.

The interior layout of the complex was designed to give the victims a sense of relative domestic comfort while making it completely impossible for them to escape.

Each room was furnished with a bed, a wardrobe, a small table, a shower, and a toilet.

The walls were painted in light colors and the same type of white textiles were used throughout.

There were no sharp corners or heavy objects that could be used to harm oneself.

There were no surveillance cameras inside the rooms.

At least none were found during the search, but the doors could only be opened and closed from the outside.

In parallel with the preparation of the premises, the group began to look for intermediaries who could provide girls who met the preset parameters.

Internal documents found later during searches of the homes of several members of the organization contain lists of requirements.

Age between 18 and 22, origin from Eastern European countries, predominantly light hair color, no children, no chronic diseases.

Correspondence analyzed by investigators explicitly states that purity and northern blood are important.

The concept of virginity appears as a mandatory condition.

At this stage, the theory of sacred vessels finally intersects with the real system of human trafficking.

Intermediaries in the girls countries of origin sought out candidates who were in vulnerable situations.

orphans, boarding school graduates, girls from poor families who had fallen on hard times.

They were offered jobs abroad under the guise of child care, hotel work, or domestic help.

For some of the girls, the paperwork was done officially through tourist visas.

Others were transported via more covert routes through third countries.

In each case, the final destination was not specified.

According to witness testimony, the first two girls appeared in the underground complex a few weeks apart.

They were brought in at night in a state of severe stress and disorientation, some under the influence of sedatives.

The new arrivals were dressed in identical long white shirts and had all their personal belongings, phones, and documents taken away.

At first, they were told through an interpreter that they were in a spiritual center and had been brought there as selected participants in a special program.

Strict rules were immediately laid down, complete isolation from the outside world, a ban on any attempts to escape, and obedience to the orders of the staff and the master.

The phrase, “You are not slaves, you are sacred vessels,” is repeated in the testimonies of several survivors with minor variations.

The interpreter who worked for the group confirmed during questioning that he used this exact phrase because he had been instructed by the organizers to emphasize the special status of the girls.

At the same time, they were immediately told that their bodies and actions now belonged entirely to the community.

This was justified by a spiritual contract.

Although there was obviously no real voluntary consent.

As the underground complex filled up, an internal routine was established.

The girls could sleep and wash in separate rooms, and they were brought food three times a day.

The diet consisted of typical Middle Eastern dishes, fruit, and sweets.

Medical care was practically non-existent except for a few cases when a person’s health threatened the functioning of the entire system.

Any complaints about mental health were ignored or interpreted as resistance to purification.

Life below was built around two types of rituals which the master and his closest assistants presented as the basis of the teaching.

According to the survivors testimony, the morning ritual was performed daily at the same time.

The girls were taken out of their rooms one by one and seated on benches in a common room.

In the center stood a small table with a single glass bowl.

According to them, the master appeared in person accompanied by two or three senior members of the group.

At that moment, all the men present addressed him with a formal title.

The description of further actions in all interrogations coincides and is of a sexual nature followed by forced feeding of the so-called sacred mixture.

Refusal by even one of the girls resulted in immediate physical punishment.

Several victims said that after such a refusal they were left without food for several days and beaten with belts or plastic tubes on exposed parts of their bodies.

Evening and night rituals were not held every day.

At the center of the system was a weekly ceremony that participants called the great ritual.

On that day, all 15 men in the group descended into an underground hall wearing black hooded robes prepared in advance.

The girls were lined up in a circle or semicircle, usually without clothes.

For a long time, the men read aloud texts from a prepared set of spells in Arabic.

According to translators who were later brought in to analyze the seized documents, these texts were fragments of religious formulas distorted and combined with elements of folk magic.

After the texts were read, the second stage began.

Each girl was subjected to successive acts of violence by all the men present.

The organizers openly explained to the victims that in their belief this process transferred virgin energy into the bodies of men and thus strengthened them.

Internal notes found during searches of several key participants contain descriptions of this concept without veiled wording.

Expressions such as absorbing northern blood and closing the circle of energy in brotherhood are used.

The actual consequences for the girls were only recorded in general terms.

There was no regular medical supervision other than a basic examination.

Pregnancies began to occur within a few months of the complex’s existence.

The testimonies of survivors and the confessions of a woman who served as a midwife suggest that at least seven of the 12 victims became pregnant.

An elderly woman from South Asia with a background as a nurse was in charge of childbirth.

She was given a separate room and a limited set of medicines and instruments.

According to this woman whom researchers managed to talk to before the verdict was handed down.

She was explicitly told that her main task was to save the mother’s life as much as possible, but the priority was to deliver the baby.

Newborns were immediately taken away from the room.

sometimes within minutes of being born.

Women who gave birth in the basement never saw their children more than once and did not know where they were being sent.

From documents related to financial transactions and indirect evidence, it can be concluded that the babies were transferred to families known to the clinic within the country and possibly beyond for significant sums of money with the transactions being recorded as private adoptions.

At least two births resulted in serious complications.

In one case, there was massive bleeding and in the second, a prolonged labor without access to adequate medical care.

Both women died.

According to several people involved in their burial, the bodies were taken out of the villa’s fenced area at night and buried in the desert without any markers.

This is confirmed by satellite images of the area on which experts noticed changes in the terrain at certain points coinciding with the indicated locations after the case was opened.

Although it was difficult to conduct an exumation later due to climatic conditions and the time that had passed since the burial.

By this point the structure of the complex and the order within it had become established.

The 10 surviving girls remained in isolation without access to information about the outside world.

According to the survivors, any talk of family or past life was suppressed with threats.

Some were told that their relatives had already received money and signed documents, thereby renouncing them.

No one verified this information, but it was enough to exert psychological pressure.

Some of the girls developed symptoms of severe depression and post-traumatic stress disorder.

One of them attempted suicide by tearing a sheet and trying to use it as a noose.

After that, the staff tightened control, removing everything from the rooms that could be used to harm oneself.

Outside, only a limited number of people knew about the existence of the underground complex.

In addition to the 15 main participants, the scheme included several security guards, a driver who provided transportation, the aforementioned midwife, and a translator who worked with the girls.

All of them were financially and legally dependent on the organizers.

Most had families in the country and feared the consequences of exposure.

In this system, the midwife was the only weak link.

She spent more time with the victims than the others.

Saw the consequences of the rituals and the suffering of the mothers whose children were immediately taken away.

According to her, it was the repeated scenes of despair among young women after giving birth that prompted her to seek a way out of the complex and turned to outside authorities.

A group of middle-aged and elderly men dressed in identical white clothes stand in a semicircle in front of a row of closed doors.

Behind each door is a windowless room where a young woman lives deprived of documents and contact with the outside world.

The men call it a spiritual center and a place of purification and the women vessels.

Investigators later determined that this was a carefully organized system of forced confinement and exploitation of 12 girls brought in from another part of the world.

From the outside, it looked like one of the many private villas of wealthy families in a desert region closer to the interior of the country.

The main house, guest quarters, garages, fencedin grounds, security at the entrance.

In the documents, the property was listed as a private residence with an art storage facility in the basement.

The underground complex was not formally mentioned in any public documents except for vague references to an underground storage facility for valuables and reinforcement of the foundation.

The construction work was carried out several years ago.

Contractors signed non-disclosure agreements and only the owners and their trusted representatives had access to the final result.

According to the investigation, a group of about 15 men aged between 45 and 65 used this facility for meetings and rituals, which they referred to among themselves as spiritual practices.

Most of them had significant assets in real estate, trade, and the prochemical industry.

The common denominator was their membership in a narrow circle of the economic elite, access to private clubs, and a habit of resolving issues informally.

The group was led by a man over 60 years of age, whom the others called the master.

In the past, he had received a religious education and had experience working in official structures, but he was dismissed for views that the leadership considered unacceptable.

After that, he gathered around him people who were interested in esoteric practices, combining fragments of mystical texts and folk beliefs.

Within this group, the idea gradually took shape that certain women possessed a special life force that could be used to prolong male health and increase influence.

The concept was based on a set of pseudocientific and mystical thesis that echoed ancient fertility cults and ideas about bodily fluids as carriers of energy.

Women were seen not as independent individuals but as carriers or vessels.

The participants developed a hierarchy for themselves.

The master as the highest source of male energy surrounded by a circle of chosen ones.

below them, the service personnel, and at the lowest level, the girls locked in the dungeon.

The transition from theory to practice began when one of the group members suggested using existing criminal human trafficking channels to select girls with specific characteristics.

Correspondence that was later seized shows how the selection criteria were discussed.

age between 18 and just over 20.

Origin from a specific region of Europe, light hair and skin color, no children, no visible diseases.

The correspondence contains references to purity and northern blood.

It is important to note that at this stage, the organizers understood the illegality of what was happening.

So, conversations were conducted via encrypted messengers using pseudonyms and intermediaries.

According to one of the detained intermediaries, the girls were found through a network of recruiters in several Eastern European countries.

They were offered jobs in child care, in hotels, in the homes of wealthy families in the Middle East or Europe.

The vacancies looked like typical advertisements for work abroad.

Above average pay, accommodation, meals, and paperwork were promised.

Some girls did go through the formal visa process and cross the border legally.

In other cases, their route took them through third countries with fake invitations.

The main thing was that at their final destination, they ended up in a system controlled by people from the master’s circle.

The actual abduction did not take place at the border, but after arrival, the girls were met by people who introduced themselves as employment coordinators.

Instead of the declared employer, they were taken to a closed house in the city for one or two nights and then under the pretext of moving to a permanent place of work to a villa in a deserted area.

On the way, their phones were taken away, allegedly to register local SIM cards, which completely deprived them of communication.

They entered the villa through the main entrance, where the security guards had already been briefed.

They were then led into the house and taken down to the basement by elevator or stairs.

According to the survivors testimony, their first impressions downstairs were mixed.

On the one hand, the rooms did not resemble classic prison cells.

There were clean beds, private showers, fresh clothes, and light colored walls.

On the other hand, the absence of windows, any reference points for the time of day, and complete dependence on the people who brought food and opened doors was immediately apparent.

In the early days, the girls were interviewed through an interpreter.

The main theme of these conversations was the same.

They were told that they were in a special center, that they had been chosen for a reason, and that they were now sacred vessels destined to participate in rituals of purification and enhancement of male spiritual power.

The coercion was not only physical, but also psychological.

The girls were told that their families had received money and agreed to their daughter’s participation in the program.

It was mentioned that any attempts to escape would result in suffering for their loved ones.

No contact with the outside world was allowed except for these conversations.

All documents, phones, and personal belongings disappeared immediately upon arrival.

The girls only found out what had happened to their passports during interrogations after their release.

The documents were kept in a separate safe in the office of one of the organizers, neatly sorted by country and surname.

The internal regime was built around a strict schedule.

Wake up, breakfast.

A short opportunity to socialize in the common room under supervision, then return to their rooms.

There was a lot of free time, but there were no books, no access to television or other sources of information.

The only regular activity was the rituals which the organizers presented as a central element of their teaching.

It was through these rituals that the group’s power over its victims was maintained and strengthened.

Every morning at about the same time, all the girls were taken in turn to a small room next to the ritual hall.

There a so-called purification ritual took place which according to testimony included the forced consumption of a mixture prepared immediately beforehand with the participation of the master.

The women were told that this was a form of accepting his spiritual essence and masculine energy necessary for the purification of their own souls.

Refusal was seen as spiritual disobedience and was punished with physical punishment and deprivation of food.

Several girls said that after 3 days without food or water, they agreed to comply for the first time in order to survive.

The week-long cycle culminated in an evening ceremony attended by all 15 men.

According to descriptions, the hall was lit with soft lighting.

Fabrics with symbols were hung on the walls, and in the center stood a low table with books and items used in the ritual.

The men entered the hall wearing identical dark clothes that covered most of their faces.

The girls were placed in a specific order and were forbidden to speak or cover their faces with their hands.

For a long time, the men read aloud texts in a language that the victims did not understand.

The participants themselves later said that they saw in these texts the key to higher knowledge.

Although experts who analyzed the seized books described them as a mixture of religious phrases and folk spells.

After the reading, the second phase began, which was essentially systematic sexual violence.

Each girl was subjected to successive actions by all the men present.

They themselves described it as transferring energy from the vessels to the brotherhood.

The victims used different words in their testimonies.

Violence, humiliation, complete helplessness.

The master actively participated in these actions and controlled the order, punishing men who tried to evade or violated the rules he had established.

The consequences of this regime were not long in coming.

After a few months, some of the girls began to show signs of pregnancy.

No preventive measures were taken deliberately.

In the organizers’s logic, pregnancy was a natural result of the rituals and further confirmation of their power.

An elderly woman with experience as a nurse in a maternity ward was invited to assist with the births.

She was introduced into the scheme as a sacred assistant, essentially the only person with basic medical skills who regularly descended into the underground complex.

This woman later became one of the key witnesses.

She was not part of the circle of 15 men and did not share their beliefs, but she needed money and agreed to the job without fully understanding the scale of what was happening.

At first, she was told that the women downstairs had violated social norms and were undergoing a special re-education program.

Only when she saw the real condition of the girls did she realized that she was dealing with victims of human trafficking and violence.

According to her, at least seven births took place in the underground complex over 2 years.

In each case, she was called in advance when the girls went into labor.

There were minimal medicines, several types of painkillers, antiseptics, and a basic set of instruments.

There was no full access to equipment and specialists because the organizers were afraid of attracting attention.

In some cases, the births went without serious complications.

But within minutes of the baby’s birth, the mothers were deprived of the opportunity to see their child.

The newborns were taken away by older male participants and carried to another part of the complex.

And from there, as the investigation showed, they were transferred to people who had agreed in advance to pay for adoption.

Two episodes ended in the death of the women in labor.

In one case, heavy bleeding began, which the midwife was unable to stop without access to full resuscitation equipment.

She asked for an ambulance to be called but was refused on the grounds that no one should know about the existence of the complex.

In the second case, the birth was prolonged and the woman developed exhaustion and infection.

Help also arrived too late.

After the women’s deaths, their bodies were taken upstairs at night, loaded into a car, and taken outside the compound.

there.

According to the guards who participated, they were buried in a remote part of the desert without identification marks.

With each new episode of participation in childbirth, the midwife’s inner tension increased.

She saw how the girls who had lost their children fell into a severe psychological state, refused to eat, and sat motionless for hours.

She tried to talk to them, but the staff strictly limited the time she could spend in their rooms.

At some point it became clear to her that the situation would not change for the better and the only way to stop what was happening was to bring the information out into the open.

This decision matured gradually against the backdrop of fear for her own safety and the well-being of her family who lived in another city and could come under pressure if her involvement was revealed.

The key moment came during another ritual after which one of the girls was brought to an improvised medical room in serious condition.

She showed signs of serious injury and needed surgical intervention but the organizers again refused to call an ambulance.

The midwife tried to help her on her own but realized that she did not have enough resources.

The girl survived but this incident was the last straw for her.

In the following weeks, she began to look for loopholes in the villa’s security system.

She noted when the guards changed shifts, which employees were less attentive, and at what times she could go upstairs without being accompanied by one of the members of the circle.

Unlike the other girls, she was not kept downstairs all the time.

She lived in a separate room on one of the upper floors and came down when called.

This gave her more opportunities, but also made her more noticeable.

Any attempt to escape could result in immediate detention and disappearance.

Nevertheless, one morning when one of the guards was distracted by a phone call, she seized the moment, left the main area, and walked to the nearest road where she flagged down a passing car.

The driver, as he later told investigators, agreed to take her to the city because she looked frightened and kept saying she needed to go to the police.

At the police station, she was initially met with disbelief.

Her story about the basement, 12 locked up girls, rituals, and a group of influential men seemed too incredible to the officer on duty.

Specific details changed the situation.

She described the layout of the villa, the location of the entrances, security cameras, the number of rooms downstairs, and the places where documents and money were kept.

These details were recorded, a diagram was drawn up, and the information was passed on to an officer dealing with human trafficking cases.

He already had experience of initially implausible stories about private prisons and illegal brothel being confirmed upon investigation.

After internal discussions, it was decided to conduct a covert investigation.

First, satellite images were used to verify the location of the villa and the surrounding infrastructure.

Then, through unobtrusive surveillance at the entrance, it was confirmed that the property was indeed in active use with expensive cars regularly entering and leaving the premises and a level of security above average for a private home.

An additional argument was information about the financial transactions of several alleged participants.

Large regular transfers with no clear purpose, coinciding with periods when, according to the midwife, special rituals were performed and children were born.

This was enough to initiate preparations for a military operation.

The decision to storm the complex was made at a level where not only the risks to the victims were taken into account, but also the possible political consequences given the status of many of the suspects.

As a result, the priority was declared to be the rescue of people in the underground complex and the prevention of possible destruction of evidence if the information somehow leaked to the owners of the villa.

The operation was planned in strict secrecy involving a limited circle of employees of a special unit specializing in the release of hostages.

The operation was planned for early morning on a weekday when the likelihood of outsiders being on the premises was lower and according to surveillance, most of the group members were at home.

The main task was to simultaneously block all exits, neutralize the security guards, and as quickly as possible establish control over the underground level where the victims might be located.

The assault team arrived at the villa in unmarked SUVs.

At the same time, the external power supply to the facility was cut off to disable some of the surveillance systems, but the autonomous lighting inside the underground complex remained intact thanks to backup power sources.

At the main entrance, security guards attempted to close the gate, but the team acted quickly.

They blocked the gate with armored vehicles and detained the guards, preventing anyone from using phones or radios.

Inside the house, several people attempted to reach the offices where the documents and safes were located, but they were intercepted on the stairs.

The key moment was gaining access to the underground level.

According to the diagram provided by the midwife, it was accessed via an elevator and a metal door in the utility room.

The elevator was blocked on the first floor so that no one could go up or down without permission.

The main entrance to the basement was opened with hydraulic tools.

The first to descend were fighters in full gear with ballistic shields.

They expected armed resistance, but in the corridor they were met only by silence and the bright light of fluorescent lamps.

A row of identical doors stretched along the corridor.

Sounds came from some of them, crying, screaming, banging.

Opening the first door, the security forces saw a young woman in a long white shirt sitting on the bed in obvious shock.

She covered her face with her hands and repeated words in a language the soldiers did not understand.

In the neighboring rooms were similar girls, some alone, some with obvious signs of physical exhaustion.

Two were in a state close to childbirth or had recently given birth, judging by medical signs.

There were no clothes in the rooms except for the shirts and underwear they had been given.

At the same time, another group went out to the hall where, as expected, another ritual was about to take place.

Inside, there were indeed several men in dark clothes and two girls who had just been brought out of the rooms.

The men did not have time to put up serious resistance.

Two tried to grab hidden knives, but were quickly disarmed.

The rest either froze or tried to shout something about a sacred place and a mistake.

A total of 15 men, later identified as the main members of the group, and 10 girls aged between 18 and just over 20, were detained in the basement.

The first priority after the capture was to provide medical assistance to the victims.

Ambulance crews and doctors were quickly brought to the villa.

All the girls were examined and injuries, signs of exhaustion and in several cases pregnancies at various stages and complications after recent child birth were recorded.

Several required urgent hospitalization.

They were taken to the nearest hospitals under guard to protect them from possible pressure or abduction.

At this new stage, the upper floors of the house were searched for documents, money, means of communication, and any evidence confirming the pattern of human trafficking and violence.

In the offices, they found safes with large sums of cash, a collection of jewelry, as well as neatly stacked passports and copies of the girl’s identification documents.

Next to them were sheets of paper with notes, country, age, hair color, date of arrival.

In another room, several laptops and external drives were found on which experts later found correspondence with intermediaries, financial calculations, and fragments of internal instructions for group members.

Several days passed between the raid and the start of a full-fledged investigation during which initial statements were recorded.

The main suspects initially took a hard line of denial.

They claimed that the girls were there of their own free will, that there was no violence, and that what was happening was part of a closed spiritual practice.

During the first interrogations, they referred to alleged verbal agreements and the preservation of the honor of families whose names they did not mention.

However, the seized documents, the midwife’s testimony, and the girl’s initial statements undermined this line of defense.

Medical reports played an important role.

The doctors who examined the girls recorded multiple old and fresh injuries characteristic of systematic sexual violence.

Gynecological examinations revealed numerous signs of childbirth without proper medical care, delayed healing of tears, and signs of infection.

Psychiatrists diagnosed most of the girls with post-traumatic stress disorder and severe depression, and some with signs of dissociative episodes.

All of this information was included in the case file as evidence of the reality of what had happened in the underground complex.

A separate line of investigation was devoted to establishing the fate of the children born in the underground complex.

The midwife who gave the initial testimony described in detail each case of childbirth, the approximate duration of the pregnancies, the appearance of the babies, and which of the men were present when they were taken out of the room.

She also said that she had overheard fragments of conversations about prepared families and agreements in other cities and countries.

Financial documents and correspondence confirmed that during several periods coinciding with the dates of birth, large transfers from private individuals designated as family support or donations were made to the accounts of some of the suspects.

However, it was difficult to establish a direct link between specific children and specific families.

The documents were either missing or were issued to frontmen.

The process of interviewing the girls proved to be difficult and lengthy.

Some of them were unable to talk about their experiences at all.

In the first few weeks, they refused to engage, gave monoselabic answers, or froze when the underground complex was mentioned.

Psychologists and specialists in working with victims of human trafficking used methods that allowed them to gather information gradually and gently without ret-raumatizing the women.

Their stories coincided in detail, a similar recruitment scenario in their countries of origin, a journey into the unknown, deprivation of documents, their first encounter with the underground rooms, an explanation of the role of the sacred vessels.

a system of punishments and rewards and rituals involving a group of men.

The testimony of the midwife and the girls formed the basis of the indictment.

All 15 main participants were charged with kidnapping, unlawful deprivation of liberty, human trafficking, systematic sexual violence, causing grievous bodily harm, and creating and leading a criminal community.

Additionally, given the ritual nature of the actions, the indictment included a charge of engaging in prohibited magical practices and superstitions, which under local law was considered a serious crime.

For several people whom the investigation identified as the organizers and ideologues of the group, the punishment could be the maximum.

The trial was held in closed session.

Officially, this was explained by the need to protect the personal data of the victims and their families.

Only judges, prosecutors, lawyers, defendants, and a limited circle of law enforcement officials were present at the hearings.

The girls gave testimony behind a screen or via video link from a separate room so as not to see their former captors.

Their identities and countries of origin were not disclosed, and only their initials were used in the transcripts.

Despite attempts by lawyers to build a defense on the alleged voluntary participation of the women, the court took into account the inequality of the parties, isolation, threats, and the complete inability to freely leave the compound.

The difference in status also pointed to the role of voluntariness.

On the one hand, the economic elite with access to resources and on the other vulnerable young women from poor families.

on the other side of the world.

The judges specifically noted that the spiritual shell with which the defendants attempted to justify their actions did not negate the fact that serious crimes against the person had been committed.

As a result, all 15 men were found guilty on most of the charges.

The leaders of the group, including master, received the maximum sentence, while the others received long prison terms, in some cases with subsequent restrictions on any public activity.

The maximum sentences were carried out after appeals within the time limits established by law.

Official reports limited themselves to a brief statement about the commission of particularly serious crimes related to human trafficking, violence, and prohibited practices.

The fate of the girls after sentencing varied.

The state in which the complex was located decided to repatriate them to their countries of origin in consultation with the relevant embassies and consulates.

Before departure, they underwent treatment and psychological rehabilitation in specialized centers.

Some were provided with temporary housing and assistance in restoring their documents.

International human rights organizations included them in programs to support victims of human trafficking, helping with treatment, legal advice, and job searches.

However, even with formal assistance, the consequences of their experiences did not disappear.

Psychologists noted that many of the girls had long-term sleep problems, panic attacks, difficulty trusting people, especially men, and complex relationships with family issues given the loss of children born in the underground complex.

In several cases, relatives did not fully understand the scale of what had happened or preferred not to talk about it, which intensified the victim’s feelings of isolation.

Attempts to find the children who had been taken from the underground complex yielded limited results.

Investigators traced some of the money and found several families who had adopted babies through opaque schemes.

But the lack of official birth documents, fake certificates, and the use of front men made the task virtually impossible.

It was difficult to legally prove the connection between a specific child and a specific mother without genetic testing, which the new guardians did not agree to.

As a result, reports noted that several children were likely living in wealthy families in different countries, but their identities and locations were not disclosed.

Information about the existence of this group and the underground complex was not widely disseminated for a long time within the country.

The authorities limited themselves to brief statements and were reluctant to disclose details to the public.

The bulk of the information became known outside the region thanks to human rights activists and lawyers involved in the case who passed the materials on to colleagues in Europe.

These documents were later used as the basis for journalistic investigations and documentary projects, but their distribution in many Middle Eastern countries was blocked on formal grounds.

For experts involved in combating human trafficking, this case became an example of how a combination of financial resources, a closed elite, and pseudospiritual ideology can create a sustainable system of violence that is virtually invisible to outside observers.

For the surviving girls, this will remain a personal story that will rarely be heard publicly.

Most of them prefer not to recall the details and to build a new life as far as possible, away from the part of the world where they were once declared sacred vessels and deprived of their right to be simply human beings.

Three exclusive cream colored handbags and one men’s belt found during a search of a private villa turned out to be made not from calf skin, but from the skin of a 26-year-old Ukrainian citizen.

DNA testing confirmed that the material used to make these accessories belonged to Alina Sokova, who was officially listed as missing after an accident on the water.

Alina Sokalovva lived in a residential area of Kiev in an old pre-fabricated high-rise building where the elevator broke down every week and the hot water was turned off for the entire summer.

She lived with her mother and younger brother who had just entered college.

The family was desperately short of money.

Her mother worked as a nurse and earned a pittance which was barely enough to buy food.

Her father left the family 10 years ago and did not help in any way.

Alina tried to support her family on her own.

She was not a professional top model featured in magazines.

She earned extra money by modeling for cheap clothing cataloges, standing at promotional events in supermarkets, and sometimes appearing as an extra in music videos.

It was hard work for little pay.

Loans for household appliances and debts for the apartment were growing like a snowball.

Debt collectors began calling in the evenings, threatening legal action.

It was at this moment of despair that a woman wrote to Alina on Instagram.

The woman’s profile looked expensive and respectable.

Her name was Victoria and she introduced herself as a scout for the Dubai modeling agency Golden Sands.

The message said that Alina was the perfect type for working at private events in the Emirates.

Victoria suggested meeting to discuss the details.

The meeting took place not in an office, but in the lobby of an expensive hotel in the city center.

Victoria arrived with a folder of documents and a tablet.

She got straight to the point without wasting time on small talk.

The job consisted of simply attending parties of wealthy people, smiling, keeping up the conversation, and adding glamour to the evening.

No intimacy, strictly hostessing and modeling.

The salary was $5,000 a month net, plus accommodation, meals, and flights.

For Alina, $5,000 was an amount she couldn’t earn in Kiev in a year.

Victoria put the contract on the table.

It was thick in English with a Russian translation.

There were many clauses about penalties for being late and violating the dress code, but the most important one was about complete confidentiality.

Models were prohibited from posting stories, taking selfies at work, or revealing who was at the party and where it was taking place.

Victoria explained it simply.

The clients were shakes and big businessmen, and they didn’t want any gossip in the press.

Alina skimmed through the text.

She didn’t understand many of the legal terms, but the figure of $5,000 in the payment column overshadowed all her doubts.

She signed the contract without even consulting a lawyer.

She felt like she had won the lottery and would now save her family from poverty.

Before the trip, she had to undergo a medical examination.

Victoria sent Alina not to a regular clinic, but to a private medical center.

The doctor, a man in his 50s with cold hands, behaved strangely.

He barely listened to her heart or measured her blood pressure.

Instead, he examined Alena’s skin very carefully and at length.

He asked her to undress completely and shown a special lamp on her back, hips, and stomach.

He measured the distance between her moles with a tape measure, felt her skin for elasticity, and recorded information about any scars.

Alina asked why such a thorough examination of her skin was necessary.

The doctor replied curtly without looking up that the sun was very hot in the Emirates and the agency had to be sure that the model would not have problems with pigmentation or allergies.

It sounded logical and Alina calmed down.

The doctor stamped her fit certificate.

On October 14th, Alina flew out of Borisville.

She told her mother that she was going to work at a diamond exhibition and would be living in a hotel with other girls.

Her brother asked her to bring him a new phone and Alina promised to buy it with her first paycheck.

She was met at the airport in Dubai.

It was not a taxi, but a huge black SUV with tinted windows.

The driver in a white shirt silently took her suitcase and opened the door.

Alina sat down in the cool interior, expecting to see the skyscrapers and lights of the big city she had read so much about, but the car drove in the other direction.

They turned onto a wide highway, and half an hour later, the city lights were behind them.

All around was the darkness of the desert.

Alina tapped on the partition between the seats and asked the driver where they were going.

The driver replied in broken English that he was taking her to the company owner’s villa for a briefing and then to a hotel.

Alina tensed up but decided not to panic prematurely.

An hour later, the car turned off the highway onto a narrow road leading to a high fence.

The fence was made of stone 4 m high with barbed wire on top.

The gate opened and the jeep drove inside.

The territory was huge but empty.

No parties, no music.

In the middle of the courtyard stood a large white house resembling a palace but somehow uninhabited, too quiet.

At the entrance, she was met by a woman named Clare.

She was European, dressed in a strict business suit.

Clare did not smile.

She said immediately, “Welcome to the residence.

Hand over your phone and passport.

Alina was surprised and asked why.

Clare replied harshly that it was a security rule.

Very important people live here and no gadgets are allowed.

The passport is needed to register the visa.

Alina feeling uncomfortable under the gaze of the security guards handed over her phone and documents.

Clare promised that she would give her a work phone in the morning for communication.

Alina was taken to her room.

The room was luxurious, marble floors, a huge bed, expensive furniture, but the windows did not open and the door was locked from the outside as soon as Alina entered.

She was told to rest.

Alina was woken up early in the morning.

Two maids entered the room and brought breakfast and strange clothes.

A long white shirt made of natural silk similar to a hoodie.

Alina never saw her jeans and t-shirt again.

Clare came in after them and said that the work began with preparing her appearance.

Alina was taken to another wing of the house.

It smelled of dampness and flowers, a very strong cloying scent of roses.

She was led into a room lined with pink marble.

In the middle of the room stood a bathtub filled with murky pink water.

Claire said it was a special bath with oils to moisturize the skin.

Alina had to lie in it for 2 hours three times a day.

The first few days Alina tried to ask about work, about exhibitions, about when she would go to the city.

Clare replied monoselabically.

Soon, first we need to make you look perfect.

The food they brought Alina was strange.

It was mostly liquid soups and herbal flavored smoothies.

After eating, Alina felt very weak and sleepy.

Her head felt heavy.

Her thoughts were confused.

She wanted to sleep all the time.

She stopped worrying about the door being locked.

She didn’t care anymore.

She just lay on the bed, stared at the ceiling, and waited for someone to come and take her to the bathroom.

After a week, Alina noticed changes.

Her skin became very pale and soft like a baby’s.

But it was not a healthy softness.

Her skin became thin, and her veins showed through it.

Any touch was painful.

The water in the bath stung more and more each time.

The smell of roses, which at first seemed pleasant, now made her nauseous.

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