Situated near a gleaming football stadium of a Premier League club in the British capital lies a plain, nondescript apartment building. Beyond its unremarkable beige brickwork exists a grim secret: a small flat connected to murderous crimes taking place thousands of miles to the south.
Per UK government records, this apartment in the capital is connected to a transnational web of companies involved in the large-scale recruitment of mercenaries to combat in Sudan alongside paramilitaries charged of myriad war crimes and genocide.
Hundreds of ex-soldiers from Colombia have been enlisted to serve with the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), a armed faction blamed for sexual violence, ethnic slaughter, and the systematic killing of civilians.
Colombian mercenaries were directly involved in the RSF's seizure of the south-western Sudanese city of El Fasher in recent months, which sparked a wave of violence that experts believe has claimed at least 60,000 lives.
While reports of atrocities increase, connections have been found between the fighters hired to capture El Fasher and addresses in the UK capital.
The apartment in Tottenham is registered to a corporation called Zeuz Global, established by two people named and sanctioned last week by the American authorities for hiring Colombian mercenaries to fight for the RSF.
Both figures – Colombian nationals in their fifties – are listed in documents at Companies House as resident in the United Kingdom.
The firm is active. The following day the United States announced restrictions on those running the Colombian mercenary operation, Zeuz Global suddenly relocated its official location to the centre of central London. Its updated address matches one five-star hotel in Covent Garden.
The establishments in question stated they had no link to Zeuz Global and were unaware why the company had listed their postcodes.
"It is of serious worry that the key individuals the American authorities states are orchestrating this fighter recruitment have been able to set up a UK company based from a flat in the capital," stated Mike Lewis, a analyst and ex-participant of a UN panel on Sudan.
Analysts argue the saga highlights concerns over how people publicly sanctioned by the US for "fueling the conflict in Sudan" were able to apparently set up and run a company in the UK capital.
The British foreign secretary has censured the RSF for "organized murder, torture and sexual violence" following the faction's capture of El Fasher. The RSF has been accused by the US with genocide.
When questioned about the company, the registry did not respond on whether it had awareness of the company's operations or confirm the residency status of the sanctioned individuals.
Reaching out to Zeuz was fruitless; its online site, set up in spring, was labelled as "under construction" with lacking information.
According to the American authorities, the figure at the heart of the South American recruitment operation for the RSF is a citizen of two countries and former army officer based in the Gulf state.
The US alleges this individual of having a key part in recruiting former Colombian soldiers to be sent to Sudan using a Colombian recruitment firm. His wife was also sanctioned for running the firm.
Another individual with two citizenships was also sanctioned for managing a company accused of processing money and payroll for the operation hiring the mercenaries.
"During 2024 and 2025, US-based firms associated with this individual engaged in numerous wire transfers, totalling many millions of US dollars," the official announcement said.
In spring of the current year, the sanctioned individuals registered a company in the UK capital called ODP8 Ltd – later re-branded Zeuz Global.
Shortly after, the RSF assaulted the Zamzam displacement camp, killing more than 1,500 civilians. After its seizure, the camp was handed over to Colombian mercenaries, who began planning for assaulting El Fasher.
The sanctioned individuals are listed in official UK documents as holding "initial shareholdings" in the company, with one identified as a person of "significant control".
The two list the UK as their "place of residency".
The hiring of the Colombians has had a profound impact on the trajectory of the conflict, experts state. These fighters have allegedly instructed minors to be soldiers, as well as acting as snipers, infantrymen, trainers, and pilots for drones.
These drones were key in the capture of El Fasher and during combat in other regions.
"The war in Sudan is a technologically advanced one, with precision munitions and long-range drones causing regular civilian deaths," added the analyst. "These systems require outside assistance to operate. We know that the Colombian mercenary operation has been a major component of this external assistance."
He added that the involvement of sanctioned individuals in a London firm highlighted wider worries over the absence of rigorous checks when companies are established.
"Owning a UK company like this is a license for bad actors to do business with respectable entities. It's still more difficult to join a fitness centre in most cases than to establish a UK company," he said.
A government source said that the recent introduction of "mandatory identity verification" for company directors would provide greater assurance about who was setting up and running UK firms.
The role of the South Americans in Sudan first came to light last year, prompting an expression of regret from the South American nation's government.
One of the mercenaries recently admitted that he had trained children in Sudan and fought in El Fasher.
The UAE, long accused of supplying weapons to the RSF, has also been connected to the recruitment of Colombian mercenaries. A investigation alleged that Emirati business people supplying Colombians to the RSF were linked to a senior UAE government official. The UAE has consistently denied these allegations.
A British government spokesperson commented: "The UK is calling for an immediate end to violence, the safety of non-combatants, and the removal of obstacles to humanitarian access."
They added that the UK had recently imposed restrictions on RSF commanders for their role in the crimes in El Fasher.
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