DUBAI (Dispatches) -- At least 651 tons of gold worth $74 billion were laundered through the United Arab Emirates in 2024 after being smuggled out of Africa or extracted from war-torn nations, according to a study published by the Swiss development cooperation organization SWISSAID, which concluded that the UAE remains the world’s leading conduit for conflict gold despite regulatory promises by Abu Dhabi.
“The findings of this study are deeply concerning. They show that the United Arab Emirates remains a hub for smuggled and conflict gold,” said Marc Ummel, co-author of the study, in comments accompanying the report’s release. 
The figures represent one of the most damaging assessments to date of the Emirates’ gold trade and directly challenge Abu Dhabi’s claims that a 2023 regulatory overhaul had tightened oversight of the sector.
Abu Dhabi introduced Responsible Gold Sourcing Due Diligence Regulations in January 2023 to strengthen gold traceability and control. But the study found that Emirati refineries were rated “fully compliant” in only two of 52 reviews conducted between 2023 and 2025. 
SWISSAID blamed the persistent illicit gold flows on major enforcement failures, noting that despite the regulations, flows of smuggled African gold into the UAE did not decline in 2024 and even rose slightly.
Gold smuggled out of African countries made up nearly 500 tons of the 2024 total, worth $56.7 billion, while at least 192 tons came from Russia, Yemen and Sudan—all countries under international sanctions. 
SWISSAID found that the UAE remains by far the leading destination for gold tied to wars in Africa, as well as a major outlet for gold from sanctioned states.
Over 40 tons of the gold laundered through the UAE in 2024 was smuggled out of Sudan, according to SWISSAID’s figures. Gold mined in Darfur, a Sudanese region controlled by the UAE-sponsored Rapid Support Forces (RSF), reaches Dubai through a network of Emirati-based companies, the report found. 
These companies convert the bullion into hard currency for the paramilitary group, which a UN fact-finding mission found in January 2026 had committed atrocities bearing the “hallmarks of genocide.”
Khartoum, which cut ties with Abu Dhabi in May 2025 over its arming of the RSF, has since pressed the UN Security Council to blacklist the paramilitary as a terror organization, while the UAE continues to deny any military role in Sudan. 
The gold findings add a financial dimension to allegations that Emirati entities have materially sustained the RSF’s war effort, a charge Abu Dhabi has consistently rejected.
SWISSAID called on the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) to put the UAE back on its “grey list,” which is reserved for states with inadequate safeguards against money laundering and terrorist financing. 
The recommendation carries significant weight, given the UAE’s efforts in recent years to shed its reputation as a permissive financial jurisdiction and its successful removal from the FATF grey list in 2024 after pledging tougher enforcement.
The timing of the report is particularly awkward for Dubai, which in January 2026 announced plans for a “Gold District” featuring what authorities call the world’s first 24-karat gold walkway—a showcase project intended to cement the emirate’s status as a global bullion hub. 
The study suggests that the same infrastructure underpinning that ambition continues to absorb billions of dollars in gold of illicit or conflict origin, with enforcement reviews finding refineries compliant in fewer than four percent of inspections.