European 'stag-do city' where Brits are 'falling victim to spiking incidents'
One of Europe's biggest stag-do destinations which is hugely popular with Brits is under the spotlight as tourists are being "robbed and left for dead" in a spate of reported spiking incidents.
Krakow, the second largest city in Poland known for its beautiful Christmas markets, is said to be suffering from an "epidemic" of drink-spiking, with victims claiming they have been left thousands of pounds out of pocket after being plied with booze on the city's streets, it has been reported.
The tourist hotspot, which is becoming increasingly popular with Brits due to cheap flights and alcohol, appears to have a darker side, as 20 strip club workers have been arrested in recent months for having links to organised crime.
It comes six years after Brit tourist Mark Cocks died after being force-fed 22 shots over a 90-minute period - an average of one shot every four minutes - in the city's Wild Night Club.
Brits in Krakow have been robbed and left for dead (Getty Images)Tourists have described how they were sold a dream of cheap unlimited booze, before being attacked and robbed - with some ending up in prison cells overnight. While "attractive" women lure men into the busy haunt, they are then offered cheap alcohol which some claim is laced with Rohypnol or other date-rape drugs.
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Rich Howells claims 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. He told The Sun that after being "harassed" by attractive strip club workers, him and his pals were led into a pink neon bar which was hidden down a back alleyway.
Krakow is hugely popular for British stag-dos (stock image)The 37-year-old from Edinburgh, Scotland, said: "I sat and I finished my beer and then they gave me one more shot and then I started to feel a bit strange. 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."
Drenched in vomit and blood, with a cut to his head, he was left terrified after being unable to speak for hours and losing his memory of the night completely. Another Brit, who did not wish to be named, explained how, at the same bar, he saw a man in his underwear "stumbling" out of a side room - fearing that he had been drugged.
Mark Cocks died in Poland while on holiday after being plied with booze at a gangster run strip club (Evening Gazette)It comes as officers have temporarily detained 54 people as part of an ongoing investigation surrounding the death of Mark Cocks, who died of alcohol poisoning after being given 22 shots back in 2017.
Enquiries established that although he tried to refuse the drinks, he collapsed after being force-fed alcohol, while he was also allegedly robbed of £420. His grieving sister Samantha has demanded justice, and earlier this year Polish authorities made seven arrests over his death. But she has said that despite the past and ongoing arrests, the family was told nobody was being held accountable for her brother's death.
She said: "The last we heard from the serious crime squad - who were investigating Mark's death and dealing with the inquest - was that they weren't looking into the crimes and goings on in those establishments. So why is this coming out now?"
A spokesperson for Poland's Central Bureau of Investigation Board, which has just arrested 20 people in connection with organised crime at strip clubs, said: "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."
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