UAE remains ‘main destination’ for gold smuggled out of Sudan and other war zones

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UAE remains ‘main destination’ for gold smuggled out of Sudan and other war zones Submitted by Oscar Rickett on Fri, 11/13/2026 - 14:04 United Arab Emirates 'imported at least 591…

The United Arab Emirates remains the key trading hub for smuggled gold and conflict gold, a new report from Switzerland’s Swissaid foundation has found.

Despite the introduction in 2023 of legislation intended to curb illegal flows, the UAE, which is now the world’s second largest gold trading hub after Switzerland, imported at least 591 tonnes of illicit gold into the country in 2024.

Illicit gold refers to that which was either smuggled to the UAE - most often to the gold markets of Dubai, the second largest Emirate - without being able to be traced, or that comes from countries at war, including Yemen, Sudan and Russia.

The UAE remains by far the main destination for gold linked to armed conflicts in Africa, according to Swissaid. It also continues to be a major destination for gold exports from countries subject to international sanctions.

“The findings of this study are deeply concerning. They show that the United Arab Emirates remains a hub for smuggled and conflict gold,” said Marc Ummel, head of Swissaid’s commodities unit and co-author of the study.

In 2024, the UAE imported at least 174.5 tonnes of gold from Russia (directly and indirectly via Armenia), Yemen and Sudan (directly and indirectly), Swissaid found. The entire volume from these three countries can, the organisation said, “be considered as conflict gold”.

The UAE has been directly involved in both the wars in Yemen and Sudan, where it is the patron of the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), a paramilitary group widely determined to have committed genocide in different parts of Darfur.

Abu Dhabi denies the charges, saying its involvement in Sudan is purely humanitarian. Alongside access to agricultural farmland, mercenaries and the Red Sea, gold is seen as one of the primary drivers for the UAE’s interest in Sudan and Africa as a whole.

The family of Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, the RSF chief better known as Hemedti, profits from gold mines in Darfur, the vast western region of Sudan under its control.

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