Sudan police: 6k+ stolen vehicles recovered in Khartoum state

The Sudanese police say that they have removed 6,000 stolen vehicles from the roads in and around the national capital Khartoum, and in various localities in Khartoum state. Procedures are underway for them to be returned to their rightful owners.

Police spokesman Brig Gen Fatha Rahman confirmed in a statement on Sunday that the Committee for Security Control and Enforcing State Authority has so far managed to collect more than 6,000 in various localities of the state. The recovered vehicles are being moved to premises of the Khartoum International Fair, until the rightful owners can claim them.

Gen Rahman added that the rightful owners will be able to claim the vehicles in accordance with criminal procedures, either by physically filing a report at a police ststion, or online.

He explained that the vehicles will be returned once the identity of the rightful owner has been verified with supporting documents, following data checks via the traffic system, and once each vehicle has been examined for forensic evidence.

Gen Rahman confirmed that the process of delivering the vehicles will be free of charge, with no fees imposed by any party in exchange for receiving these vehicles.

Boko Haram

Historically, there are thousands of unregistered and unlicenced vehicles (popularly called Boko Haram) in Sudan, many smuggled across the borders from neighbouring countries, in spite of several campaigns over the years to enforce that they be properly legalised and registered.

The ‘fog’ of the current war has made it even more difficult to register and regulate vehicles, amid widespread theft and looting.

Interpol

As reported by Radio Dabanga in August 2025, the Sudanese embassy in N’Djamena announced it received 125 vehicles that were stolen in Sudan and smuggled into Chad during the war. The handover formed part of ongoing judicial and security cooperation between the two nations.

In a statement seen by Radio Dabanga, the Chargé d’Affaires of the Sudanese Embassy, Ambassador Abdallah Abakar Saleh, said that the majority of the 125 recovered vehicles were luxury four-wheel drives. They were handed over to the embassy by Chadian police in coordination with Interpol.

Vehicle theft

Reports of widespread vehicle theft – particularly by the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) – have persisted since the early months of the war.

In December 2023, Radio Dabanga reported that RSF troops were “stealing anything they can lay their hands on” in Khartoum, including private property and vehicles. Some residents resorted to burying their cars to prevent them from being seized.

The police at the time said it received more than 29,000 reports of vehicle theft and had notified Interpol of vehicles that were smuggled abroad.

In early August 2023, the Sudanese Golden Arrow Group, the exclusive agent for Toyota, Hino, and Yamaha in the country, reported the theft of 1,192 Toyota vehicles, 173 Hino trucks, and a large number of motorcycles from its showrooms and warehouses in Khartoum and Khartoum North (Bahri) following the RSF’s advance into the capital.

International organisations were also affected. In February 2024, Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) reported that two of its vehicles were stolen during an armed raid by ten unidentified gunmen on its medical centre in Zalingei, the capital of Central Darfur.

Sudan’s border with Chad has long served as a conduit for illicit trade in arms, ammunition, and contraband goods. Dabanga has previously reported on RSF supply routes extending through western Darfur into eastern Chad, where porous borders and limited oversight have enabled the movement of fighters and stolen assets.