While the world was still healing from a brutal world war, one coastal city full of life was hiding a different kind of monster. In the heart of Alexandria, Egypt, in the crowded working-class neighborhood of “El Labban,” a terrifying pattern started. Women were vanishing into thin air.
No ransom notes. No bodies in the alleys. Just pure silence. While the West was still freaking out over Jack The Ripper hunting in the fog, a way more organized and bloody nightmare was working in broad daylight in Egypt. This wasn’t one crazy killer, it was a full business run by two sisters: Raya and Sakina.
Where & When It Went Down
Location: El Labban District, Alexandria, Egypt.
Timeline: The disappearances started in 1919 and stayed hidden until the first bodies were found in mid-November 1920. After the investigation and trials, the whole gang was sentenced to death by hanging on December 21st and 22nd, 1921. They went down in history as the first women ever to be executed in Egypt’s criminal justice system.
The Deadly Trust Trap
Raya and Sakina moved there escaping extreme poverty, looking for a better life. But instead of honest work, they found a deadly loophole. Back then, working-class women didn’t trust banks. They kept all their money on their bodies as heavy gold – anklets, thick bracelets, big earrings. For the sisters, these women were just walking vaults.
The trap was all manipulation. They would hit the crowded fabric markets, spot a woman loaded with gold, and with a warm smile and friendly girl-talk, lure her to their rented room. The bait was always fire: smuggled imported fabrics for super cheap, or a rich husband deal.
Once that wooden door closed, it was over.
Incense and Death
It was brutal and fast. The victim would sit, have a cup of tea, then the guys working with the sisters would jump her and hold her down, cutting off her breathing with a cloth over her mouth and nose so she couldn’t scream. The sisters would just watch coldly, then strip all the gold off her.
Moving bodies through crowded alleys was too risky, so they came up with a horrifying fix: bury them right under the floor tiles where they slept. To hide the smell of decay in the crazy heat, they burned super strong incense 24/7. When neighbors asked about the weird smell, their cold answer was ready: “Oh, it’s just to cover the smell from the butcher shop nearby.”
The Fall
By late fall 1920, police stations were flooded with missing reports. But luck is what ended it. A blind landlord of one of their old houses hired workers to dig a trench for new water pipes. The pickaxe hit something hard. They brushed the dirt off and found a human skull, still with gold teeth.
A young, smart detective took the case. He connected the bone locations to the missing reports and to all the rooms Raya and Sakina had rented. He ordered every single floor to be dug up. What they found was a nightmare – under the beds and under the tiles, police pulled out the remains of 17 women.
With hard evidence and smart interrogation, the gang cracked and started snitching on each other until they confessed everything.
