ABU DHABI (The Thursday Times) — A court in Abu Dhabi has sentenced eight men to life in prison for trafficking weapons and military equipment to Sudan’s army and laundering the proceeds through companies and bank accounts in the UAE, the state news agency WAM reported on Thursday.
The Abu Dhabi Federal Court of Appeal found that the defendants had taken part in “an integrated scheme” for the illicit trade in weapons, ammunition and military equipment, and had forged documents to hide where the money came from and where it went. It ruled that the “arms deals, money laundering endangered UAE interests”.
The court ordered the confiscation of ammunition and communications devices used in the crimes, about Dh1.5 million of seized funds, and the deportation of those convicted after they serve their sentences. Five companies were fined Dh1 million each and had their licences cancelled, while several defendants received additional three-year terms for money laundering and two men were acquitted, The National reported.
A $13 million deal
The case began in April, when the UAE’s Attorney General referred 19 defendants, 13 people and six companies, to the court over a plot to supply Kalashnikov rifles, machine guns and grenades with a declared value of $13 million.
Relations between the UAE and Sudan have soured during the war that broke out in April 2023 between the Sudanese army and the Rapid Support Forces. The army accuses Abu Dhabi of arming the RSF, which the UAE denies. The war has displaced more than 14 million people, and this week drone strikes on a market in Nyala killed more than 100 people.
