Officers from the Police Central Investigation Bureau (CBSP) have arrested a further 20 people, including waitresses and dancers, as part of a nationwide investigation into extortion at Polish strip clubs.

Iwona Jurkiewicz, the spokeswoman for the CBSP, told PAP that the 20 were suspected of participating in an organised criminal group and extorting money from customers of the clubs.

The suspects allegedly intoxicated their clients with alcohol before robbing them through fake transactions.

In one incident under investigation a customer at the Goraczka club in Krakow lost over PLN 190,000 (EUR 42,000) by purchasing nine bottles of champagne and 419 artificial roses.

Jurkiewicz also said that another victim spent PLN 80,000 (EUR 17,900) “in two payments in one hour” after having arranged a bank loan.

The detained people were brought to the Lower Silesian Branch of the Department for Organised Crime and Corruption of the National Prosecutor’s Office in Wroclaw.

„The prosecutor presented 20 detainees with charges of participating in an organised criminal group and committing a number of robberies and frauds to the detriment of clients of clubs operating in Krakow, Poznan, Wroclaw, Gdansk and Warsaw,” said prosecutor Karol Borcholski from the Press Department of the National Prosecutor’s Office.

The latest arrests bring the total number of people in temporary detention to 54, and, according to investigators, the case is still developing and more arrests are possible.

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.

jk/mr/md