UAE remains ‘main destination’ for gold smuggled out of Sudan and other war zones

The United Arab Emirates remains the key trading hub for smuggled gold and conflict gold, a new report from Switzerland’s Swissaid foundation has found.

Despite the introduction in 2023 of legislation intended to curb illegal flows, the UAE, which is now the world’s second largest gold trading hub after Switzerland, imported at least 591 tonnes of illicit gold into the country in 2024.

Illicit gold refers to that which was either smuggled to the UAE - most often to the gold markets of Dubai, the second largest Emirate - without being able to be traced, or that comes from countries at war, including Yemen, Sudan and Russia.