International Police organization Interpol no longer wants
Colombia´s intelligence agency DAS to be its contact with Colombian
authorities and officially asked the National Police to take up this
role, Police Commissioner Oscar Naranjo said Saturday.
The DAS has come under pressure now that it is suspected of having conducted illegal wiretaps on Supreme Court judges, opposition politicians and journalists. Some of the highest officials of the Presidency are being investigated for allegedly ordering these interceptions. A former director of the agency is investigated for alleged collaboration with paramilitary death squads.
Naranjo told Caracol Radio that Interpol had said it no longer wants to work with the intelligence agency and wants the Police to be its partner in the international fight against crime.
However, according to the Police Commissioner, Interpol had requested to strengthen ties with the National Police before the wiretap scandal. The two institutions are already in the process of shifting responsibilities away from the DAS.