The owner of the Marco Polo Italian Restaurant, Bernardo Francisco,
an Italian national, was arrested last week on charges of possession
of pornographic materials, videos and drugs as well as a number of
weapons and ammunition.

Police raided the restaurant after a client reported being beaten up
by the owner while dining in the restaurant.

During the raid, police found assault and hunting rifles,
ammunition, pornographic video images of Mongolian girls, drugs and
a great number of imported wines with no excise tax labels.

"Eight types of automatic machine guns, rifle scopes, hunting
rifles, and a cross bow have been confiscated from the restaurant.
We haven't yet determined where these arms came from," said
O.Enkhtaivan, a detective from the State Investigative Board.

Bernard Francisco, together with his Mongolian partner Enkh-Otgon,
have been detained at the Gants Khudag detention center. A number of
Mongolian girls who worked above the restaurant in a strip club are
being questioned by the police as witnesses. According to police,
they will not be treated as victims of the crimes charged against
Francisco because they entered into employment in the strip club on
a voluntary basis.

"Francisco had been recording the girls with their clients by hidden
camera," reported the Onoodor daily newspaper.

Some media publications reported last week that high-ranking
officials from state organizations and several foreign people had
been regular customers of the strip club in the past. This lead to
speculation that high level officials might stall the investigation
into the business, but police deny there is any pressure from state
organizations.

According to a police officer, Francisco had been under the
surveillance by police and secret service agencies for several
months. He is widely reported to have been uncooperative and even
insulting to police who checked into his business.

The Marco Polo restaurant, located on Seoul Street of Sukhbaatar
District, has been operating since 1999. The first floor of the
building housed an upscale restaurant and pub while a strip club
operated on the second. The club had seven VIP rooms which were
reportedly used for prostitution. The newspaper reported that over
400 girls have been filmed or taped at the club. "The owner was
about to make ten more rooms for special guests," an anonymous
police officer told Onoodor.

Bernardo Francisco, born in 1962, has been in Mongolia since 1997.
The police have opened several criminal suits against him according
to the Criminal Code of Mongolia and various laws against
pornography.