White commercial farmers in Zimbabwe have lost much of this year's tobacco crop due to theft by operatives loyal to dictatorial President Robert Mugabe, only to see it sold to U.S. and other international firms for pennies on the dollar, say sources inside the African nation.

According to sources in Zimbabwe and neighboring South Africa, dozens of white-owned commercial farms have been raided of their entire tobacco harvest, lost to "war veterans" – roving bands of black Zimbabweans, some of whom fought for independence from colonial rule in the 1980s, who are loyal to Mugabe and who take over the farms using violent means.

Many of the farms have been occupied by the war veterans for months now, with the tacit approval of the government. Though there is no written or official order permitting the theft of the tobacco – Zimbabwe's most profitable agricultural export – sources tell WorldNetDaily that Mugabe is allowing the theft in lieu of having to pay the cadres hard currency to remain loyal to him.

Sources say up to 30 million kilograms (66 million pounds) have been stolen so far, either by taking the tobacco directly out of the barns after it has been cured or by sealing off entire farms, then taking the tobacco off the land itself.

Zimbabwe's one tobacco market, or "floor," is used jointly by commercial farmers and smaller, largely black-owned "subsistence" farmers. Sources explained that Mugabe's loyalist cadres are unfamiliar with the process, so they have been stealing the tobacco from the large white-owned farms and asking the subsistence farmers to sell it for them on the market. In return, subsistence farmers then get a percentage of the take.

Worse, sources explained, since the loyalists want to turn a quick profit they are selling the stolen tobacco for far less than its market value.

Because of the volatile political environment, Zimbabwean farmers and other local sources refused to talk on the record to WND. But they agreed to share their experience anonymously.

"Essentially, what [the government] is saying to these operatives is, '[Letting you steal this tobacco] is a way to keep you fed. You don't have to bring the money back to us but help yourself and we'll never send in the police,' to stop them," one source told WND.

Total control

Others explained that the entire process is controlled by Mugabe's government. They say the government is profiting from the sale of the stolen tobacco by artificially undervaluing Zimbabwe's currency as compared to the U.S. dollar.

Officially, the Zimbabwean government has set the monetary exchange rate at 55 Zim dollars to one U.S. dollar. But "there is a parallel market, which is essentially a black market – the free market," one source said. On that market, "you can get up to 650 Zim dollars for every U.S. dollar."

In April, the Mugabe-controlled Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe ordered that all tobacco sales would be conducted in U.S. dollars. That money, sources explained, is then filtered through the bank; the Mugabe government takes the tobacco-generated U.S. dollars and sells them on the black market for huge profits.

Commercial farmers, meanwhile, have begun complaining to the government, telling officials that they have to get more than 55 Zim dollars for every U.S. dollar because the official exchange rate set by Mugabe is far less than their cost of growing their crops.

The response from the government has been to offer the commercial farmers 99 Zim dollars instead – still far below the black market rate and the estimated costs to raise the tobacco.

"It's a double-whammy," said the South African source. "On the one hand, the farmers who have crops to sell are getting less than their value, and on the other, most are being run off their farms anyway."

U.S. companies mum

The source said "there is enormous pressure" on some commercial farmers "not to rock Mugabe's boat and to try to compromise with him." But, he said, there are "quite a few farmers who also want to instigate a class-action [lawsuit] in America against the buyers."

U.S. tobacco firm Universal Leaf, as well as Malawi-based Stancom Tobacco, are the primary buyers of the stolen tobacco, sources said.

When local farmers confronted company buyers of the tobacco and told them it was stolen, "they've basically said, 'We don't care – we're getting cheap tobacco,'" a South African contact, who requested anonymity, told WND.

Universal Leaf and Stancom did not respond to repeated requests for comment. Meanwhile, officials with Lorillard Tobacco Company, based in Greensboro, N.C., also would not return calls asking where the company buys its tobacco.

A spokeswoman for R.J. Reynolds Tobacco told WND the company has bought some tobacco from Zimbabwe, but that it is done through "overseas buying agents." She also said the firm was not aware the tobacco was stolen because it was being brought to market and certified in traditional fashion.

Other major U.S. tobacco firms, like U.S. Tobacco, use only crops grown in the United States.

Sources who spoke to WND said the Mugabe government and its loyalist cadres are also beginning to extort other minority-owned businesses and farming operations, particularly Asian-owned enterprises. But the tobacco theft is the latest in a series of incidents that have led to worsening political and economic turmoil in Zimbabwe.

As WorldNetDaily reported more than two years ago, black war veterans and others loyal to Mugabe have long since embarked on a campaign of terror and violence against the white minority. Many white commercial farmers – some who have farmed the land for years – have been killed or injured as Mugabe's henchmen began occupying farms with the blessing of the state.

After Mugabe's controversial re-election earlier this year, many industrialized nations – including the European Union and the United States – imposed sanctions against Harare. The sanctions mean that many traditional tobacco merchants are having difficulty securing lines of credit in the amounts necessary to purchase tobacco.

Because of the continuing turmoil in Zimbabwe's agricultural sector, some traditional foreign buyers have turned to other tobacco-producing nations such as Brazil, African media reports say.

Previous WND stories on Zimbabwe:

Zimbabwe boiling over

Mugabe arming squatters with AK-47s?

Mugabe's terror 'carefully orchestrated'

Mugabe announces massive farm theft

Zimbabwe in ruins

Mugabe dishes out goodies to cronies

Media abandon Zimbabweans

Mugabe reign of terror extends to animals

White farmer describes land seizure

Neighbors fear fallout from Mugabe tyranny

Zimbabwe falls further into arnarchy

African group sees 'calm' in Zimbabwe

International community turns on Mugabe

Land-grab policy causes Zimbabwe famine

Tales of Mugabe's rural cleansing

Will Mugabe buy the farm?

Robert Mugabe steals the farm

Surviving Mugabe's communist reign

Zimbabwe's reign of terror

21 years of Marxist corruption

Gadhafi eyes Zimbabwe