Darfur state starts inventory of smuggled vehicles

A large number of stolen and unregistered vehicles in Darfur will be inventorised soon, according to the customs department in Nyala.

The Deputy Chief of Customs, Maj. Genn Khalil Basha Sirene, said there are more than 1,000 stolen vehicles outside of the registration system in Darfur, during a meeting of the committee that inventorises and adjusts the status of smuggled and stolen vehicles.

Sirene said that through two phases, the vehicles will be inventorised, starting with registration and screening for one week and ending with a payment period, of 15 days. The committee will depend on Interpol lists of stolen vehicles from outside Sudan.

Chairman of the police committee, Lt. Col. Omar El Mukhtar Mohamed Nur said that the movement of the vehicles is prohibited until that time. Otherwise they will be dealt with as smuggled commodity in accordance with the Customs Act.

Mohamed Nur said they “aim to fill the security gap and impose the prestige of the State and the Law” by the inventory.

There are generally two types of stolen vehicle in Darfur. The first are those brought in from Central African Republic, Libya, and Chad. Buyers of such vehicles in South Darfur complained last September that the state government had not licensed them thus far.

The other type of stolen vehicles are those in the hands of militiamen in Darfur. In June, roads in South Darfur were checked by military and customs personnel for hijacked and smuggled vehicles.