It's the largest intelligence leak in Colombia's history, La Semana magazine says
BOGOTA (TrustLaw) - Tens of thousands of classified documents from Colombia’s intelligence agency have been sold to illegal armed groups, foreign governments and drug traffickers, according to the Colombian magazine La Semana.
The massive sale of secret documents by agents working for the state intelligence agency, known as DAS, is the largest intelligence leak in Colombia’s history, the weekly news magazine said.
“Ever since it was known that DAS would close down, lots of people started doing business and looking for ways to make a few bucks. Others started pilfering information as a kind of insurance, in case one day they would face a criminal investigation or disciplinary hearing,” a former DAS detective told Semana on condition of anonymity.
The leaks, which began two years ago, involve classified documents that contain sensitive information about agency missions, military operations against guerrilla groups, the real names of undercover agents who have infiltrated rebel ranks, and the illegal wiretapping of government officials, judges and journalists.
The classified information “is available on the streets”, the magazine said.
For a fee of up to $22,000, agency employees could be bought off to erase or tamper with immigration records held by the intelligence agency, according to the magazine.
It also reported that some of the leaked documents ended up in the hands of one infamous Colombian drug lord, Daniel Barrera, as well as a “foreign government that has had a tense relationship with Colombia in recent years”.
“Those who pilfer information put lives and national security at risk. We will find them and we will prosecute them,” DAS chief, Felipe Munoz, told Semana in response to the revelations.
The news of the leak came just days after the former head of intelligence agency, Jorge Noguera, was sentenced to 25 years in prison for colluding with illegal paramilitary death squads who murdered union leaders and left-wing activists.
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