Two frontmen for demobilized paramilitary leader “Jorge 40” have been arrested over illegal land grabs carried out a decade ago, Colombian newspaper El Espectador reported Friday.
The two members of the now defunct paramilitary organization AUC, headed by demobalized leader Rodrigo Tovar Pupo, alias “Jorge 40” – are being held by the anti-terrorism unit of the Prosecutor General’s Office for illegally seizing and forcibly displacing families from 36 plots of land between 1997 and 2000.
The land was acquired by the AUC’s Northern Bloc, in the Caribbean coastal department of Magdalena, through falsified deeds after rural families were forced to flee under threat of violence.
The land was originally put in the name of Jorge 40, who then transferred ownership to relatives and members of the Northern Bloc.
The men face charges of falsifying a public document, forced displacement, and conspiracy.