The Rapid Support Forces (RSF) primarily comprises former Janjaweed militias and has links to other mafia-style groups in Sudan. Reportedly, state-embedded actors in Sudan are the most prominent criminal actor type in the country. Sudan serves as a transit point for cocaine trafficked from South American source countries to the Arabian Peninsula, alongside small amounts from neighbours such as Egypt. Nevertheless, small quantities of heroin are reportedly trafficked into Sudan from neighbouring countries such as Egypt. While Sudan's government has acknowledged an increase in illicit prescription drugs, amphetamines and opioids remain uncommon due to their cost.ĭue to the high cost of obtaining heroin, both trafficking and consumption are relatively uncommon. Popular among university students, the drugs are smuggled into Sudan where they are sold in pharmacies. The consumption of psycho-active substances in Sudan, particularly prescription drugs such as Tramadol and Captagon, has significantly increased over the last decade, with the latter reportedly being since recently produced in the country. In 2015, cannabis cultivation in Sudan generated over 7 billion USD in profits and in 2019, Sudan reported the seizure of over 16 000 cannabis crops. Cannabis cultivation, consumption and trade are culturally established practices in Sudan, which operate as an informal industry rather than a criminal market. Cannabis is also smuggled out of Sudan to the Arabian Peninsula. Sudan is one of the largest producers of cannabis in Africa and consumption is widespread. Gold smuggled out of the Sahel and CAR transits through Sudan and, in addition, illicit oil siphoning also serves as a major source of criminal income. Gold is smuggled out of the country via organized criminal networks or laundered through government parastatals and has been directly linked to high levels of corruption and violence in Darfur. Sudan is a source and transit country for the illicit trade of non-renewable resources. However, little poaching exists on Sudanese territory, as nearly all Sudanese fauna have been decimated. South Sudan, Uganda and the DRC exploit Sudan’s porous borders to traffic pangolins, and Sudanese pro-government militias are involved in poaching in the neighbouring CAR. The decline of elephant populations in neighbouring South Sudan has reportedly triggered an increase in ivory prices. Reports from the Trade Records Analysis of Flora and Fauna in Commerce and the Uganda Wildlife Authority suggest that ivory is increasingly smuggled through Sudan because of its lax legislation that enables traffickers. Ivory tusks are often smuggled into Sudan from the CAR, the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and northern Gabon by a group of Sudanese horsemen, known as the Janjaweed Militia. Conversely, Sudan is a transit hub for the illicit ivory trade. Although many smugglers operating in Sudan are Sudanese, a significant number are Eritrean and Ethiopian.Īlthough there is no evidence of an established illicit flora trade in Sudan, spillover from the illicit logging and charcoal trades in South Sudan is likely to exist. The high levels of smuggling that occur are linked to corrupt state-embedded actors, predominantly low-level officials who work within border regions. Most human smuggling networks use land routes in the Sahel, crossing highly militarized borders where migrants are vulnerable to predatory nomadic groups. Individual smugglers and criminal groups engaging in human smuggling maintain strong links to the state. Smuggled migrants include Somali, Syrian and Yemeni nationals fleeing conflict and seeking migration into Europe. Sudan is a major human smuggling hub, moving people towards North Africa and the Gulf. In terms of perpetrators, organized criminal networks facilitate trafficking through cell-based networks that pass victims between various nodes. Notably, migrant children are especially at-risk to exploitation in mining and farming as well as to sexual exploitation. Often, human trafficking victims begin their journeys consensually, before being exploited by traffickers. Victims in Sudan originate mostly in the West, East or the Horn of Africa, and are forced into domestic servitude, prostitution and debt bondage. Sudan is a source, waypoint and a destination market for human trafficking.
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