The United Arab Emirates has referred 13 defendants and six companies to its State Security Court over an alleged arms-smuggling network accused of trying to move ammunition and military equipment to the Port Sudan SAF authorities.
UAE Attorney General Hamad Saif Al Shamsi ordered the referral to the Abu Dhabi Federal Court of Appeal’s State Security Chamber on charges including illicit trafficking in military materiel, forgery, use of official documents and money laundering, according to Emirati state media and local outlets.
The case centres on an alleged attempt to use UAE territory, airspace and financial channels to route military supplies to General al-Burhan’s SAF, at a time when Sudan’s war continues to draw in regional supply networks and deepen the country’s humanitarian collapse.
Prosecutors said the shipment was intercepted before it could be transferred by private aircraft, and linked the procurement arrangements to a committee chaired by SAF chief Abdel Fattah al-Burhan.
Arabic reports citing the investigation said the alleged deals were carried out at the request of an armament committee in the Port Sudan authority headed by al-Burhan and his deputy Yasser al-Atta, with coordination attributed to Othman Mohammed al-Zubair Mohammed.
The case also names figures accused of directing or coordinating parts of the operation, including former intelligence chief Salah Abdallah Mohammed Saleh, known as Salah Gosh.
According to the investigation, the network operated through two linked transactions. The first involved a weapons deal concluded outside the UAE, including Kalashnikov rifles, machine guns and grenades. The declared value was $13 million, while investigators said the actual value was about $10 million, with the remaining $3 million allegedly distributed as illegal commissions through licensed companies and bank accounts under the cover of commercial activity.
The second transaction allegedly used more than $2 million from the proceeds of the first deal to secure urgent ammunition supplies. UAE authorities said part of the shipment entered the country fraudulently via a private aircraft before its planned transfer to Port Sudan.
Documents reviewed by The National said the plane’s cargo was listed as “humanitarian aid/medical,” with Sudan’s Federal Ministry of Health named as the consignee. UAE investigators said the cargo was in fact linked to military supplies.
Authorities said the wider plan went beyond the seized shipment and included preparations to move an additional five million rounds of ammunition through six further transactions. UAE prosecutors said the first seizure prevented those operations from going ahead.
The six companies named in the case are Rashed Omar Brokerage Company, Portex Trade Limited, Wardat Al Masarra Trading Company, Sudamina Company, Yellow Sand Trading Company and Apollara Electronics Trading Company.
The UAE said its evidence included financial and commercial records, official correspondence, bank transfers, cash flows, confessions from some suspects, recordings and communications showing coordination between members of the alleged network.
The case follows an announcement in April 2025 that UAE authorities had foiled an attempt to move millions of rounds of ammunition and military equipment through one of the country’s airports to General al-Burhan’s SAF.
At the time, Sudan’s SAF-controlled authorities dismissed the allegations as fabricated, accusing Abu Dhabi of trying to deflect attention from Sudan’s case against the UAE at the International Court of Justice and from accusations that the UAE had supported the RSF. The UAE has repeatedly denied supporting any party to Sudan’s war and says it rejects the use of its territory or financial system for illicit arms trafficking.
The latest referral marks the most detailed Emirati legal move so far in the case, placing alleged Sudan-linked procurement, forged humanitarian cargo documents and financial laundering channels before the State Security Court.
