Sudan seizes smuggled weapons from Libya

KHARTOUM, Sudan

Sudanese forces on Saturday seized a shipment of weapons from war-torn Libya, according to the country’s Rapid Support Forces (RSF).

Our forces “deployed on the border strip between Sudan, Egypt, and Libya, managed to seize a shipment of weapons, ammunition, and explosives coming from the State of Libya,” the RSF said in a statement.

According to the statement, four people, including two Libyans, have been arrested.

RSF commander, Lieutenant-Colonel Ali Ahmed Mahmoud Awajeh, said RSF units were dispatched to the Saif al-Barli area on the border triangle after receiving intelligence information about the presence of arms-trading gangs in the area.

The statement said after clashes between RSF and gangs at an area three kilometers from Saif al-Barli, the RSF managed to seize “two GMC cars carrying 36 Kalashnikov rifles and two boxes of grenades in addition to the DShK cannon, an RPG-7 launcher, and a large number of ammunitions of various kinds.”

Libya’s southern border with Sudan, Chad, and Niger is home to transit routes used by smugglers, arms dealers, and terrorists. The area is controlled by various armed tribes such as the Tabu and Tuareg who receive money, goods, and fuel in exchange for allowing smugglers a safe passage.

*Writing by Ibrahim Mukhtar in Ankara