Yemen: WFP accused of smuggling a shipment of wheat flour, to sell it on the black market
The Office of Industry and Trade in Aden (southern Yemen) seized a shipment of wheat flour for humanitarian aid provided through the United Nations, while trying to smuggle it and sell it on the black market, as part of a series of violations committed by United Nations organizations.
A security source said that a shipment of wheat flour provided by the United Nations World Food Program (WFP) was seized, on Friday evening, at a checkpoint in Aden, while trying to smuggle it on a medium truck out of the city to sell it on the black market.
The Director of Supply Control in Aden, Omar Abbad, said that the truck was inspected and the quantity of 150 bags of 50 kg was counted.
"The truck was impounded, and strict legal measures will be taken". Abbad added.
Last August, the local authority in Aden stopped the WFP from distributing an aid shipment that included cooking oil that had expired, one day after the distribution was launched in the Dar Sa'ad district in the north of the governorate.
The WFP was involved in several incidents of repeated corruption in Sana'a, Aden, Taiz, Dhamar, Hodeidah and others, most notably withholding quantities of wheat flour in warehouses until it was damaged, without allowing it to reach the beneficiaries.
In March 2021, citizens beneficiaries of the program’s aid in Dhamar accused the WFP of distributing damaged wheat as a result of poor storage or damaged from the origin source. Noting that this was not the first time that damaged aid has been disbursed, but rather that hundreds of food baskets are being sold to merchants by influential members of the WFP.