Agents of Colombia’s Prosecutor General’s Office on Friday arrested five former executives of intelligence agency DAS for their alleged responsibility in the illegal wiretapping of judges, journalists, human rights workers and politicians.
Fernando Tabares, Jorge Lagos, Bernardo Murillo, Luz Marina Rodriguez and German Albeiro Ospina will have to respond to charges of conspiracy and abuse of power.
The five directors of the agency’s intelligence and counter-intelligence units are suspected of having known of the existence of the DAS’ G3 unit that was specialized in the spying on individuals.
According to newspaper El Espectador, the five will be arraigned on Saturday.
The wiretap scandal led to severe criticism by those subjected to illegal spying and forced President Alvaro Uribe to dismantle the intelligence agency and create a new one. Following the scandal, the U.S. Congress demanded that no money earmarked for aid to Colombia can be spent on the DAS or its successor.