Colombian security agency DAS sent agents to Belgium to carry out surveillance on a judge and on members of the European Parliament, reports W Radio.
DAS carried out the surveillance to find out how a judge was protecting a Colombian who allegedly had “inside” information on the FARC, according to the news source.
The security agency has been hit by a string of revelations concerning its illegal monitoring of opposition politicians, human rights workers, and Supreme Court magistrates, in what is known as the “wiretap scandal.”
The latest claim is not the first suggestion that the agency carried out illegal monitoring abroad. In June an Ecuadorean newspaper published allegations that DAS spied on Ecuadorean President Rafael Correa, while in April leaked reports from the Colombian Prosecutor General’s Office said that the agency carried out illegal monitoring as part of a smear campaign against European organizations, including the E.U. Parliament.
According to the files, the European Parliamentary Committee on Human Rights, the U.N. Office of the High Commissioner of Human Rights, and certain national governments were deemed a threat to the Colombian government, and staff members these bodies were trailed by DAS agents.
W Radio also reports that DAS tried fourteen times to infiltrate the Supreme Court before DAS official Alba Luz Florez did it successfully.
Florez, who is currently testifying in court on the DAS wiretapping scandal, said that she infiltrated the Supreme Court through “recruiting human sources.”
According to reports, Florez – who has been nicknamed “Mata Hari” by the Colombian media – started a relationship with a police captain in order to gain access to the court.