P1 - The Wagner Group in Sudan | Deep Dive: Exploring Organized Crime

P1 - The Wagner Group in Sudan | Deep Dive: Exploring Organized Crime

Part 1: “Who are these guys and what are they doing here?”

In late February 2022, Airport workers in Khartoum International Airport in Sudan are stood glued to television screens, watching Russian tanks entering the outskirts of Kyiv in Ukraine. But just outside on the runway, a Russian cargo plane laden with cookies was about to take off, heading to Latakia on the coast of Syria.

Earlier that day, officials had inspected the aircraft, suspicious of the cargo manifest. It turned out they were right to be suspicious, because hidden under the cookies was gold. A ton of gold. But the military arrived and the plane was waived through.

Gold is Sudan’s largest export, although 80% of that is thought to be smuggled out of the country. The industry has a number of players, including the Rapid Support Forces who are currently locked in battle with its rival the Sudanese Armed Forces . But there is also another active group that works alongside both these two forces and has its eyes firmly on Sudanese gold - the Wagner Group.

Speaker(s):

Kholood Khair - the Founder and Director of Confluence Advisory, Khartoum.

Ken Opala, the Field Network Coordinator for East and Southern Africa, Global Initiative against Transnational Organized Crime.

Mohanad Hashim, freelance Sudanese journalist, currently working at the BBC.

Justin Lynch, researcher, and author of Sudan’s Unfinished Democracy.

Additional Reading:

(GI Paper)The grey zone: Russia's military, mercenary and criminal engagement in Africa

(GI Paper) Going for Gold: Russia, sanctions and illicit gold trade

'If you desert, we'll execute you': 'Putin's chef' recruits convicts for war Yevgeny Prigozhin: UK reviews rules after Wagner head sued journalist

UK exposes sick Russian troll factory plaguing social media with Kremlin propaganda

Fake news and public executions: Documents show a Russian company’s plan for quelling protests in Sudan

Wagner chief admits to founding Russian troll farm sanctioned for meddling in US elections

Ukraine capital Kyiv endures Russian onslaught - BBC News

Russia is plundering gold in Sudan to boost Putin’s war effort in Ukraine

Sudan TV broadcast taken off air after loud bangs during military clashes

CNN - How Russia could be stealing over $13 billion of gold a year from Sudan

Sudan fighting: RSF and...

Jaksot(49)

Guinea-Bissau Part 1: Civil Society and Illicit Markets | Deep Dive: Exploring Organized Crime

Guinea-Bissau Part 1: Civil Society and Illicit Markets | Deep Dive: Exploring Organized Crime

A look at how a self-interested political and military elite used profits from illicit markets to fuel their own ambitions at the expense of the wider population. This is a story of corruption, dirty...

16 Huhti 202134min

The Fall of EncroChat | Deep Dive: Exploring Organized Crime

The Fall of EncroChat | Deep Dive: Exploring Organized Crime

In June 2020, EncroChat users received a flurry of panicked messages from the company claiming its encrypted network had been hacked by "government entities". What unravelled was one of the biggest ha...

12 Tammi 202140min

Child Sexual Abuse Material, COVID and Technology | Deep Dive: Exploring Organized Crime

Child Sexual Abuse Material, COVID and Technology | Deep Dive: Exploring Organized Crime

With more people working from home than ever before due to the pandemic,. But another parallel pandemic is taking place, that of online child sexual abuse material which has taken a sharp rise around ...

20 Marras 202049min

Under the Shadow: Illicit Economies in Iran | Deep Dive: Exploring Organized Crime

Under the Shadow: Illicit Economies in Iran | Deep Dive: Exploring Organized Crime

In this podcast, Jack is looking at the latest Global Initative Against Transnational Organized Crime report called 'Under the Shadow: Illicit Economies in Iran', which looks at how the illicit econom...

10 Marras 202048min

Extortion in the Northern Triangle | Deep Dive: Exploring Organized Crime

Extortion in the Northern Triangle | Deep Dive: Exploring Organized Crime

In the Northern Triangle countries of Central America - Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador, extortion is so pervasive that it has been called “A way of life”.The growth in extortion in the region was...

10 Syys 202039min

Transnational Tentacles | Deep Dive: Exploring Organized Crime

Transnational Tentacles | Deep Dive: Exploring Organized Crime

Transnational Tentacles: Global Hotspots of Balkan Organized Crime.The Western Balkans is well understood now as an important transit point for the smuggling of drugs, arms and people. But what has be...

24 Heinä 202036min

Illegal Logging & Organized Crime in Chihuahua, Mexico | Deep Dive: Exploring Organized Crime

Illegal Logging & Organized Crime in Chihuahua, Mexico | Deep Dive: Exploring Organized Crime

People and Forests at Risk: Organized Crime, trafficking in persons and deforestation in Chihuahua, Mexico.The highland ranges of the Sierra Madre are cool and temperate forests – with several species...

26 Kesä 202040min

Insurgency and Illicit trade in Northern Mozambique | Deep Dive: Exploring Organized Crime

Insurgency and Illicit trade in Northern Mozambique | Deep Dive: Exploring Organized Crime

How will the ongoing violent Islamist insurgency in the Cabo Delgado region of Northern Mozambique overlap with the organized criminal networks that operate in the area. How has the corruption within ...

25 Touko 202025min

Suosittua kategoriassa Politiikka ja uutiset

aikalisa
rss-ootsa-kuullut-tasta
tervo-halme
ootsa-kuullut-tasta-2
politiikan-puskaradio
rss-podme-livebox
et-sa-noin-voi-sanoo-esittaa
otetaan-yhdet
rss-asiastudio
rikosmyytit
viisupodi
rss-vaalirankkurit-podcast
rss-mina-ukkola
the-ulkopolitist
radio-antro
io-techin-tekniikkapodcast
popcorn-with-esko
rss-polikulaari-humanisti-vastaa-ja-muut-ts-podcastit
rss-merja-mahkan-rahat
rss-50100-podcast