Sudan closes borders with South Sudan, Chad, Libya to 'prevent arms smuggling'

Sudan has closed its borders with South Sudan, Chad and Libya to prevent smuggling of arms.

"We have closed our borders with Libya, Chad and South Sudan to prevent smuggling of arms and four-wheel-drive vehicles," said Sudan's Vice President Hassabo Mohamed Abdul-Rahman when addressing students' gathering in Khartoum.

"During the past period, around 60,000 four-wheel-drive vehicles have been smuggled into Sudan from Libya, Chad and South Sudan, where some of those smuggled cars were used in crimes such as murdering, smuggling, money laundering and drugs," he added.

Sudan also has land borders with Egypt, Ethiopia, Eritrea and Central Africa.

He further noted that the International Police had recently sent requests to Sudan to register the data of those smuggled cars to help identify the criminal networks involved in those criminal acts.

Last August, the Sudanese government launched a campaign for collecting arms and unlicensed vehicles in Sudan's Darfur region.

During a visit to Darfur states last year, Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir stressed the country's determination to collect arms in the region and divided the project into two phases; the first through financial compensation for each piece collected and the second through a compulsory law that included punishment to the violators.

Earlier, the government announced formation of a High Committee for collection of arms and unlicensed vehicles.