Drug traffickers distribute and transport hashish in militia vehicles

Report: Sudanese Echoes
The Rapid Support Forces (RSF) militia has expanded the cultivation of the drug
(hashish) in the Darfur region, amidst the spread of distribution and marketing within the cities controlled by the militia.
Police sources, who previously worked in the anti-drug directorate told (Darfur 24) that drug traffickers joined the RSF militia after the outbreak of the current war and began to practice their activity under the protection of their rifles. Former police officers in the anti-drug directorate have also turned into dealers who cultivate and promote hashish. Drug dealers and users have begun to practice their activity openly in Nyala and Al-Da’ein.
Source of funding:
Sources confirmed that drug trade activity is taking place in areas controlled by the RSF militia in Khartoum and Al-Gezira, while the militia is trying to smuggle hashish into areas controlled by the army through weak-willed people.
The identical sources affirmed that the militia has resorted to cultivating and trading hashish in large areas, to expand the resources for funding the war.
An anti-narcotics police officer confirmed that the areas planted with hashish in the farms of the Radom area in South Darfur have doubled over the past twenty months.
The officer, who requested anonymity, told (Darfur 24) that the areas planted have doubled after new farmers entered the cultivation and promotion of hashish, after the withdrawal of the police forces that were working in combating it.
He pointed out that the South Darfur police estimated the area planted with hashish in 2022 in the Radom area at about 20,000 acres, and it is confined to a rugged area on the border strip with South Sudan and the Central African Republic.
Agricultural revenues:
The officer confirmed that the militia commanders financed farmers to grow hashish in the Radom areas in exchange for dividing the revenues equally. He explained that the farmers have become comfortable in agriculture and their fields have expanded into populated areas after the withdrawal of the anti-narcotics police points in the areas of “Kafy Kingi” and “Kafn Dibi” and south of Radom.
The officer continued his talk and said that the ongoing war has encouraged gold miners in the neighboring “Sango” mines to halt prospecting and work in cannabis cultivation, especially during the fall period when mining operations stop due to rain.
Threat:
The anti-narcotics officer revealed that he was subjected to threats from a drug dealer who recently joined the Rapid Support Forces and is currently working in promotion at Al-Genaina market bus station in Nyala, saying: ” You used to arrest and take us to court, now if you are a man come to the hashish market to see what will happen to you.”
The former officer’s statement matched that of a local community leader in the Al-Radom area, who confirmed that RSFmilitary commanders were involved in drug cultivation and trade, in addition to facilitating the process of transporting them to marketing areas. He said that drugs generate huge profits.
The sources revealed that the RSF militia facilitates the process of transporting drugs, and it is now transporting them more via four-wheel drive vehicles, instead of animals, bicycles, and motorcycles, which were the case before the war.
The largest drug capital:
According to sources from (Darfur 24), the capital of East Darfur State, “Al-Da’ein”, has become the largest center for drug dealers, as drugs easily reach it from the production areas and pass through them to the consumption areas.
Last December, the head of the community initiative to combat negative phenomena in East Darfur State, Osman Mosbal, warned of the danger of the spread of drugs in the city markets that are under the control of the RSF militia.
Mosbal pointed out in a public speech for the initiative in Al-Da’ein that drugs and Tramadol pills are sold openly in the markets. The head of the initiative wondered, “Is everything that happens in the militia areas repeated in the areas controlled by the army?” Public trade: A drug dealer in South Darfur told Darfur 24 that the situation in the state is no different from that in East Darfur. He pointed out that buying and selling was done before the war in complete secrecy and in places outside Nyala, and that it was stored in several neighborhoods for fear of raids, as there is oversight and informants throughout the state. The dealer added that today the trade is done in the open in the markets in all localities.
How much does a wick cost?
He pointed to the rise in drug prices despite the abundance and the expansion of the circle of safety for traffickers, attributing this to the significant increase in demand among young addicts and fighters and the ease of transporting them to other markets. Regarding drug prices, the price of a wick of the first-class Hilal type is 20,000 pounds instead of 7 pounds before the war, and a second-class one is sold for 12,000 pounds.
The Sudanese Ministry of Interior annually sends a large force to the “Radom” areas on the border with (South Sudan and Central Africa) coinciding with the harvest season of the hashish – and exterminates the farms by burning. Radom is considered the most important area for growing narcotics, and the planting season begins in June of each year, and its harvest begins three months later.