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What began as a promising business opportunity in Dubai turned into a real-life nightmare for a 21-year-old British woman after she was arrested on undisclosed dr*g charges and thrown into a “hellhole” prison.
Isabella Daggett, a recruitment consultant and co-director of a small modeling agency, has reportedly been without access to showers or clean clothes after being swept up in a police raid just after starting a new job in the United Arab Emirates.
Highlights
- A 21-year-old British woman was jailed in Dubai on undisclosed drug charges.
- Isabella Daggett has endured inhumane prison conditions, including no showers for a month and no clean clothes.
- Her family alleges she was wrongfully detained due to association with a man she barely knew who was arrested alongside her.
- A fundraiser was launched by her mother to cover overwhelming legal and travel expenses to bring Isabella back to the UK.
Confused and looking for answers, her family is now desperately raising money via a fundraiser to bring Isabella home. The more time that passes, the more she’s subjected to inhumane conditions.
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A 21-year-old British model was arrested and thrown into a Dubai prison without access to a shower or clean clothes
Image credits: belladaggett
“She was in the wrong place, at the wrong time, with the wrong people,” said her grandmother, Heather Smith. “Bella is innocent. She’s never used dr*gs, and tests have confirmed nothing was in her system.”
Image credits: belladaggett
Before her arrest, Isabella was living a normal life, working in the UK for a businessman who recruited workers for construction projects.
In her free time, she doubled as an Instagram model, regularly uploading seductive photos where she flaunted her body in what appeared to be luxurious resorts and hotels.
Image credits: bluebeat76/Adobe Stock
Her images caught the attention of an agency in Dubai, which offered her an exciting new job and lifestyle in the Gulf. Convinced, Isabella packed her things and relocated in early spring.
It didn’t take long for things to unravel.
“She rang me a week before her arrest,” her grandmother recalled. “She said she wasn’t happy, that she knew something was off. She was planning to come home. And then this happened.”
Image credits: Bella Daggett/Facebook
According to Heather, Isabella had been staying with a man she “barely knew” after another housing arrangement fell through.
The man was reportedly arrested alongside her, and while the precise charges remain undisclosed, Isabella’s family believes she is innocent and was wrongly detained.
Her family alleges she is innocent and was wrongfully detained in connection with the crimes of a man she had been staying with
Image credits: Bella Daggett/Facebook
Since March, the 21-year-old has been made to endure deplorable conditions.
“She hasn’t had a shower for a month. No change of clothes for three months,” her grandmother added, explaining that not only is she receiving appalling treatment as a prisoner, but that her situation has been made worse by the fact that she’s a woman.
“Women get treated worse than the men in there. Male prisoners get to go outside. They have video game consoles and TVs. Bella has nothing.”
Image credits: Bella Daggett/Facebook
Isabella’s family said they had warned her about Dubai’s strict laws and troubling reputation before she left.
“We told her: ‘You know the rules in Dubai. Play by them.’ But she wasn’t even trying to break any,” Heather continued.
“She ended up at this guy’s house, a guy she didn’t even like much. Maybe he’s guilty of something. She isn’t.”
A GoFundMe campaign was launched to help Isabella’s family pay for her legal and travel expenses
Her mother, 44-year-old Lucinda Smith, launched a fundraiser campaign last Tuesday (May 20), with the goal of raising £5,500 ($7,450) to bring her daughter back home.
“The legal and travel expenses are overwhelming, and we need your support. Any contribution, no matter how small, will help us cover the costs of legal fees, travel, and other necessary expenses,” she wrote.
“We have proof she was not involved in these charges and are determined to fight for her freedom. The hideous conditions she is living in are enough to break any mother’s heart.”
The campaign has raised just over £1,000 ($1350) at the time of writing.
Image credits: Igor/Adobe Stock
According to official UK Government information, Lucinda and her daughter were planning to move into the modeling industry for good. In May 2024, they registered a company called “The Global Model Agency Ltd.,” with both of them acting as co-directors.
Lucinda has declined to speak to the media directly.
Isabella’s arrest is far from being an isolated case. Her story draws disturbing parallels to another young woman’s ordeal in Dubai
Image credits: Bella Daggett/Facebook
As Bored Pandapreviously reported, earlier this year, Maria Kovalchuk, a 20-year-old Ukrainian model, was found near-lifeless by the side of a Dubai road with multiple shattered bones after going missing for ten days.
Much like Isabella, Maria had traveled to Dubai to attend a meeting with influential men claiming to be representatives of the modeling industry. She attended a party alongside a friend who returned home to her country before Maria disappeared.
Image credits: belladaggett
Local investigations revealed that she sustained her injuries after “entering a restricted construction site alone and falling from a height.” Her family, however, maintains that she was assaulted.
According to media reports, Maria’s family fears she may have fallen victim to a “twisted” adult entertainment scheme involving wealthy sheiks in Dubai.
“There are videos circulating where sheiks allegedly beat girls, cut their hair, and do all sorts of other things to them,” explained lawyer Katya Gordon to The Sun, urging women not to go to said events, no matter how tempting the monetary incentives might be.
“No pity.” Netizens expressed little sympathy for the 21-year-old
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What do you think ?
LauraDragonWench 6 months ago
Everyone - man or woman (but especially women) - needs to STOP GOING TO DUBAI! It's a cesspool dressed in glitter and foil. Yes, this chick, Bella, was ignorant - she was warned and went anyway.- but saying she deserves her current situation is just the same as blaming a rape victim for dressing provocatively or being somewhere she "shouldn't" be. Travel to Dubai should be restricted - treat the place like North Korea, Pakistan, the USA and avoid it like the plague.
Major Harris 6 months ago
i hope she gets out if she actually did not break any of their laws. ladies, why do you go by your self to a country that women have no rights?
Wheeskers 6 months ago
Reality doesn't care about your opinion or the men in the scary places. Don't be delusional to think that because you don't like it, you'll change a whole nation.
Load More Replies...
Neb Skram 6 months ago
"“She was in the wrong place, at the wrong time, with the wrong people" this is what every criminals grandmas said when poor little grandbaby gets arrested. but in fact she was the "wrong people" to be hanging out with
John Carlson 6 months ago
You’re utterly clueless. Lived in the uae for 7 years. Wrong place wrong time happens all the time there. There are women who’ve been jailed for 10 years just for getting into a physical altercation with another woman. No one seriously hurt. D***s are rampant but locals are exempt if they get caught. So if you’re at a party with locals around you get a sense things may be ok. But then if police show up they’re ushered out and the foreigners are swept up. Dubai gives people a sense of security because it’s so westernized but the laws are based on sharia which is basically you’re guilty no matter the circumstances. You might get off with a really good lawyer. But could take years and 10’s of thousands of dollars. The glitz and glamour of dubai is incredibly tempting to a woman and there are opportunities to be had. but it definitely has a dark underbelly and as this poor woman discovered things can go south very quickly.
Load More Replies...
Seedy Vine 6 months ago (edited)
It's hideous what's happening to women in dubai, and more hideous that the public seem to be more interested in victim-blaming than stopping the violence.
AG 6 months ago
I'm going to get downvoted for this but it's fine. You can try and figure out how to get them to stop the violence but in the meantime that doesn't make it safe. She's a victim of herself. She was informed and warned but she was more interested in having fun and partying with rich people. She wasn't thinking about her own safety. Well the party's over. That woman is 21; she's an adult, it's past time to grow up. She knew the danger and voluntarily accepted the risk and she has no one else to blame but herself. She may not have access to her Instagram but maybe they'll let her be on Locked Up Abroad. The situation sucks but it was foreseeable and preventable.
Load More Replies...
Craig McIntyre 6 months ago
Play stupid games win stupid prizes. It's prison. It's supposed to be horrible.
GettingCereal 6 months ago
No showers for a month and no change of clothes for three months? That's inhumane and unhygienic. Prison is not actually supposed to be unhygienic, at least not for the last 100 years.
Load More Replies...
Vishy 6 months ago
And what was the business agreement again??? first thought that comes to mind is why did she agree to stay with an unknown man. Something major is missing in the story.
Michael Largey 6 months ago
Some places have pretty strict laws against impersonating a Kardashian.
Douglas S Lawrence 6 months ago
She looks an awful like a p**n star ..if Ur gonna flaunt it in a country like Dubai then U need to deal w the consequences in fact in her case she is dealing w them ..haha
Colleen Halloran 6 months ago
Easy money usually comes with strings. He family warned her but she didn't listen.
A girl 6 months ago
When in Rome, do as the Romas do. It's not her fault she was being her. It was a terrible place to do it though. If I were traveling the Middle East, I'd wear a burka and I'd have creds I was married. I'd even let husband speak for me, which he thinks is a fantasy. Your country, your rules.
Daniel Ong 6 months ago
Sad that this has happened. It is NOT just Dubai. In several Asian nations if you are found with d***s you will be sentenced to death. Isabella was caught redhanded with the man she befriended. Now, she is paying the terrible punishment for her mistake.
Ginny Gardner 6 months ago
What is the point of this article? Post provocative pictures, talk about how she fell victim to this shady man/sceme, and the post all the ignorant victim blaming posts from idiots who looked at the pictures but didn’t bother to read the article. What cr@p.
Shelley Colleen 6 months ago
In Dubai, a woman can be arrested without reason if a man believes she's done something he doesn't like. Women (especially unmarried women) have literally no power there. If the man she was staying with was committing a crime, she would be arrested right alongside him. Guilt by association with a heaping side order order of "sexual activity outside marriage is a serious crime." Please don't go to Dubai, folks. It's a nightmare, especially for women. 😞
9m4qhmpcqy 6 months ago
Those judging should shut up and think today are those girls, tomorrow can be one of your family unjust detained by any dictatorial country, everyone travels nowadays
9m4qhmpcqy 6 months ago
Together with them there is one mental disabled woman who is already naked showing herself to male police and security, total disregard for her integrity and they don’t care
9m4qhmpcqy 6 months ago
MY DAUGHTER IS IN THE SAME SHITY PLACE. THEY CAN’T SEE THE SUN. THEY CAN’T GET MEDICAL CARE WHEN SICK. THEY CAN’T HAVE VISITS NOT EVEN FROM LAWYER. THEY CAN’T EVEN PROVE WHEN INNOCENT
9m4qhmpcqy 6 months ago
MANY WHEN THEY ARE INNOCENT AND ARE THERE SOME MONTHS EVEN YEARS WITHOUT BEING CHARGED. THERE ARE BABIES WITH THE MOTHERS BEING DENIED BASICS TO LIVE IN DIGNITY. THEY CAN’T GO OUT. THEY DON’T SEE THE SUN EVER. POLICE PEOPLE TREAT THEM LIKE ANIMALS
9m4qhmpcqy 6 months ago
There are 50 women detained in AL BARSHA POLICE STATION IN DUBAI in a space that could take max10. Amongst them there are mentally disabled person who are defecating around them on the floor, and sick people WHY NOBODY DOES ANYTHING ABOUT THOSE CASES IN THIS S**T HOLE COUNTRY??!!!
9m4qhmpcqy 6 months ago
People are so naive. The only ones going to jail are those who don’t pay or aren’t big in the business. The d**g lords are known by the authorities and live in burj Khalifa with all the protection. I know some of them
GettingCereal 6 months ago
I just can't get over the comments about how of course there's not jacuzzi and what did she expect, a five star hotel? F**k them. Not being allowed to shower for a month in a hot climate is gross and dirty and dehumanizing, and complaining about that doesn't make you a prissy barbie.
Schnitzel 6 months ago (edited)
It's not her fault for not knowing!! I will say this again and I will die on this hill: Dubai is FAKE and they WILL do bad things to you if you're not careful!! And the victim blaming when someone is down and out? You people that do this deserve the same fate!
AndyR 6 months ago
The dangers have been well publicised in the UK. Even if she genuinely did live under a rock and had no idea about the risks, her family warned her.
Load More Replies... KatSaidWhat 6 months ago
And you are vogue cover worthy yourself, we can assume.
Load More Replies...
LauraDragonWench 6 months ago
Everyone - man or woman (but especially women) - needs to STOP GOING TO DUBAI! It's a cesspool dressed in glitter and foil. Yes, this chick, Bella, was ignorant - she was warned and went anyway.- but saying she deserves her current situation is just the same as blaming a rape victim for dressing provocatively or being somewhere she "shouldn't" be. Travel to Dubai should be restricted - treat the place like North Korea, Pakistan, the USA and avoid it like the plague.
Major Harris 6 months ago
i hope she gets out if she actually did not break any of their laws. ladies, why do you go by your self to a country that women have no rights?
Wheeskers 6 months ago
Reality doesn't care about your opinion or the men in the scary places. Don't be delusional to think that because you don't like it, you'll change a whole nation.
Load More Replies... Neb Skram 6 months ago
"“She was in the wrong place, at the wrong time, with the wrong people" this is what every criminals grandmas said when poor little grandbaby gets arrested. but in fact she was the "wrong people" to be hanging out with
John Carlson 6 months ago
You’re utterly clueless. Lived in the uae for 7 years. Wrong place wrong time happens all the time there. There are women who’ve been jailed for 10 years just for getting into a physical altercation with another woman. No one seriously hurt. D***s are rampant but locals are exempt if they get caught. So if you’re at a party with locals around you get a sense things may be ok. But then if police show up they’re ushered out and the foreigners are swept up. Dubai gives people a sense of security because it’s so westernized but the laws are based on sharia which is basically you’re guilty no matter the circumstances. You might get off with a really good lawyer. But could take years and 10’s of thousands of dollars. The glitz and glamour of dubai is incredibly tempting to a woman and there are opportunities to be had. but it definitely has a dark underbelly and as this poor woman discovered things can go south very quickly.
Load More Replies... Seedy Vine 6 months ago (edited)
It's hideous what's happening to women in dubai, and more hideous that the public seem to be more interested in victim-blaming than stopping the violence.
AG 6 months ago
I'm going to get downvoted for this but it's fine. You can try and figure out how to get them to stop the violence but in the meantime that doesn't make it safe. She's a victim of herself. She was informed and warned but she was more interested in having fun and partying with rich people. She wasn't thinking about her own safety. Well the party's over. That woman is 21; she's an adult, it's past time to grow up. She knew the danger and voluntarily accepted the risk and she has no one else to blame but herself. She may not have access to her Instagram but maybe they'll let her be on Locked Up Abroad. The situation sucks but it was foreseeable and preventable.
Load More Replies... Craig McIntyre 6 months ago
Play stupid games win stupid prizes. It's prison. It's supposed to be horrible.
GettingCereal 6 months ago
No showers for a month and no change of clothes for three months? That's inhumane and unhygienic. Prison is not actually supposed to be unhygienic, at least not for the last 100 years.
Load More Replies... Vishy 6 months ago
And what was the business agreement again??? first thought that comes to mind is why did she agree to stay with an unknown man. Something major is missing in the story.
Michael Largey 6 months ago
Some places have pretty strict laws against impersonating a Kardashian.
Douglas S Lawrence 6 months ago
She looks an awful like a p**n star ..if Ur gonna flaunt it in a country like Dubai then U need to deal w the consequences in fact in her case she is dealing w them ..haha
Colleen Halloran 6 months ago
Easy money usually comes with strings. He family warned her but she didn't listen.
A girl 6 months ago
When in Rome, do as the Romas do. It's not her fault she was being her. It was a terrible place to do it though. If I were traveling the Middle East, I'd wear a burka and I'd have creds I was married. I'd even let husband speak for me, which he thinks is a fantasy. Your country, your rules.
Daniel Ong 6 months ago
Sad that this has happened. It is NOT just Dubai. In several Asian nations if you are found with d***s you will be sentenced to death. Isabella was caught redhanded with the man she befriended. Now, she is paying the terrible punishment for her mistake.
Ginny Gardner 6 months ago
What is the point of this article? Post provocative pictures, talk about how she fell victim to this shady man/sceme, and the post all the ignorant victim blaming posts from idiots who looked at the pictures but didn’t bother to read the article. What cr@p.
Shelley Colleen 6 months ago
In Dubai, a woman can be arrested without reason if a man believes she's done something he doesn't like. Women (especially unmarried women) have literally no power there. If the man she was staying with was committing a crime, she would be arrested right alongside him. Guilt by association with a heaping side order order of "sexual activity outside marriage is a serious crime." Please don't go to Dubai, folks. It's a nightmare, especially for women. 😞
9m4qhmpcqy 6 months ago
Those judging should shut up and think today are those girls, tomorrow can be one of your family unjust detained by any dictatorial country, everyone travels nowadays
9m4qhmpcqy 6 months ago
Together with them there is one mental disabled woman who is already naked showing herself to male police and security, total disregard for her integrity and they don’t care
9m4qhmpcqy 6 months ago
MY DAUGHTER IS IN THE SAME SHITY PLACE. THEY CAN’T SEE THE SUN. THEY CAN’T GET MEDICAL CARE WHEN SICK. THEY CAN’T HAVE VISITS NOT EVEN FROM LAWYER. THEY CAN’T EVEN PROVE WHEN INNOCENT
9m4qhmpcqy 6 months ago
MANY WHEN THEY ARE INNOCENT AND ARE THERE SOME MONTHS EVEN YEARS WITHOUT BEING CHARGED. THERE ARE BABIES WITH THE MOTHERS BEING DENIED BASICS TO LIVE IN DIGNITY. THEY CAN’T GO OUT. THEY DON’T SEE THE SUN EVER. POLICE PEOPLE TREAT THEM LIKE ANIMALS
9m4qhmpcqy 6 months ago
There are 50 women detained in AL BARSHA POLICE STATION IN DUBAI in a space that could take max10. Amongst them there are mentally disabled person who are defecating around them on the floor, and sick people WHY NOBODY DOES ANYTHING ABOUT THOSE CASES IN THIS S**T HOLE COUNTRY??!!!
9m4qhmpcqy 6 months ago
People are so naive. The only ones going to jail are those who don’t pay or aren’t big in the business. The d**g lords are known by the authorities and live in burj Khalifa with all the protection. I know some of them
GettingCereal 6 months ago
I just can't get over the comments about how of course there's not jacuzzi and what did she expect, a five star hotel? F**k them. Not being allowed to shower for a month in a hot climate is gross and dirty and dehumanizing, and complaining about that doesn't make you a prissy barbie.
Schnitzel 6 months ago (edited)
It's not her fault for not knowing!! I will say this again and I will die on this hill: Dubai is FAKE and they WILL do bad things to you if you're not careful!! And the victim blaming when someone is down and out? You people that do this deserve the same fate!
AndyR 6 months ago
The dangers have been well publicised in the UK. Even if she genuinely did live under a rock and had no idea about the risks, her family warned her.
Load More Replies... KatSaidWhat 6 months ago
And you are vogue cover worthy yourself, we can assume.
Load More Replies... You May Like
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