Canadian-manufactured precision sniper rifles are being used by armed groups in Sudan, Libya and Yemen in direct violation of international arms embargoes and national export laws, a CBC News investigation revealed on Friday.
“This one has already been sold … for $12,000 … we smuggle it,” an arms dealer’s brother in Sanaa, Yemen, reportedly said in a voice memo obtained during the probe. The visual investigation identified the weapons as XLCR precision rifles produced by Sterling Cross, an arms manufacturer based in Abbotsford, British Columbia.
In Sudan, geolocated footage from June 2024 shows a fighter from the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) using the stock of a Sterling Cross rifle to assault detainees on a truck in Jebel Moya.
The region, located south of Khartoum, has been a site of widespread human rights abuses and degrading treatment of captives.
Bazaars and black markets
The investigation tracked the rifles to an illicit arms bazaar in the Yemeni capital, Sanaa. A dealer reportedly advertised his inventory on social media and a video from 2024 shows him test-firing the Canadian weapon into a water reservoir near the city.
CBC identified a specific serial number on one of the rifles offered for sale in Yemen. Despite sharing this data with Global Affairs Canada (GAC) and Sterling Cross, the news outlet received no explanation for how the weaponry bypassed sanctions to reach the black market.
Militia ties in Tripoli
Images geolocated to high-rise buildings in Tripoli, Libya, linked the rifles to the Judicial Security Apparatus. Researchers identified the unit as a spinoff of the Special Deterrence Force (RADA), a group known for arbitrary detention and torture at Mitiga Prison.
Libya remains under a strict Canadian arms embargo due to ongoing volatility in the region.
GAC issued a written statement asserting that Canada maintains its embargoes and that there have been “no exceptions” to its risk assessment process for arms exports.
Following reports in November of another Canadian weapon being used, Foreign Minister Anita Anand said she was “looking into this very seriously.” However, no public action has been taken since then, according to the news outlet.