Situated close to the gleaming soccer ground of a Premier League club in London lies a squat, nondescript apartment building. Beyond its ordinary facade exists a grim secret: a cramped second-floor apartment linked to deadly crimes taking place thousands of miles to the south.
According to British official documents, this one-bedroom flat in the capital is connected to a transnational web of companies involved in the large-scale hiring of mercenaries to combat in Sudan alongside militias accused of myriad atrocities and genocide.
Hundreds of former Colombian military personnel have been enlisted to fight with Sudan’s Rapid Support Forces (RSF), a armed faction blamed for mass rapes, ethnic slaughter, and the systematic killing of civilians.
Colombian mercenaries were key participants in the paramilitaries’ seizure of the south-western Sudanese city of El Fasher in recent months, which sparked a killing frenzy that analysts say has claimed over 60,000 lives.
While reports of violence increase, links have been identified between the mercenaries hired to capture El Fasher and locations in the city of London.
The apartment in north London is listed to a corporation called Zeuz Global, set up by two people named and sanctioned recently by the US treasury for recruiting Colombian mercenaries to fight for the RSF.
Both individuals – citizens of Colombia in their 50s – are listed in records at the UK company registry as resident in Britain.
The firm remains active. The day after the United States imposed restrictions on those running the recruitment network, Zeuz Global abruptly moved its official location to the centre of London. Its new postcode matches one luxury accommodation in Covent Garden.
Both hotels said they had no link to Zeuz Global and had no idea why the firm had used their addresses.
"This is of major concern that the primary figures the US government claims are orchestrating this mercenary supply have been able to set up a UK company based from a apartment in the capital," said an expert, a analyst and ex-participant of a United Nations group on Sudan.
Analysts say the situation highlights questions over how people publicly sanctioned by the US for "contributing to the civil war in Sudan" were able to apparently establish and operate a company in the British capital.
The British foreign secretary has condemned the RSF for "systematic killings, abuse and sexual violence" following the faction's seizure of El Fasher. The RSF has been charged by the US with genocide.
When asked about Zeuz Global, Companies House did not respond on whether it had awareness of the company's activities or confirm the residency status of the sanctioned individuals.
Contacting Zeuz was fruitless; its online site, created in May, was labelled as "under construction" with lacking information.
Per the American authorities, the figure at the centre of the South American recruitment operation for the RSF is a dual Colombian-Italian national and retired Colombian military officer based in the Gulf state.
The US alleges this individual of playing a key part in recruiting ex-military personnel to be deployed to Sudan using a Bogotá-based employment agency. His wife was also sanctioned for owning and managing the firm.
Another individual with two citizenships was similarly censured for overseeing a business alleged of handling funds and salaries for the network hiring the Colombian fighters.
"In 2024 and 2025, companies in America associated with this individual conducted numerous bank transactions, totalling millions of US dollars," the official announcement read.
In April of this year, the sanctioned individuals set up a firm in the UK capital called ODP8 Ltd – later re-branded Zeuz Global.
Shortly after, the RSF assaulted the Zamzam camp for displaced people, killing more than 1,500 civilians. After its seizure, the camp was transferred to the hired fighters, who began planning for attacking El Fasher.
The sanctioned individuals are listed in official UK documents as holding "starting shares" in the company, with one named as a key controller.
The two list the UK as their "place of residency".
The hiring of the South Americans has had a significant effect on the trajectory of the conflict, analysts say. These fighters have reportedly trained children to be combatants, as well as acting as marksmen, infantrymen, instructors, and pilots for unmanned aircraft.
These drones proved key in the capture of El Fasher and during fighting in surrounding areas.
"The war in Sudan is a hi-tech one, with guided weapons and remote aircraft causing daily fatalities," said the expert. "These weapons require outside assistance to operate. We know that the Colombian mercenary operation has been a major component of this outside support."
He added that the involvement of sanctioned individuals in a UK company underlined wider worries over the absence of rigorous checks when firms are set up.
"Having a UK company like this is a passport for bad actors to do business with legitimate counterparts. It's still more difficult to join a gym in most cases than to set up a UK company," he said.
A government source stated that the recent introduction of "compulsory ID checks" for company directors would provide more confidence about who was setting up and running UK companies.
The Colombians’ involvement in Sudan first emerged last year, leading to an expression of regret from the South American nation's government.
One of the fighters recently admitted that he had trained children in Sudan and fought in El Fasher.
The United Arab Emirates, repeatedly alleged of supplying weapons to the RSF, has also been connected to the hiring of Colombian mercenaries. A investigation alleged that UAE nationals providing Colombians to the RSF were linked to a high-ranking Emirati figure. The UAE has repeatedly rejected these claims.
A British government spokesperson said: "The UK is demanding an halt to atrocities, the protection of non-combatants, and the removal of obstacles to aid delivery."
They noted that the UK had also imposed restrictions on RSF leaders for their role in the crimes in El Fasher.
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