Colombia Investigating Alleged Army Spying on Peace Talks

Colombian authorities are investigating allegations that an army intelligence unit spied on Bogota's delegation to peace talks with FARC rebels, a government source said Tuesday.

The magazine Semana reported that the army set up the unit in 2012 to illegally intercept the communications of members of the government's negotiating team.

An official in the Colombian attorney general's office told Agence France Presse that an investigation into the alleged illegal eavesdropping has been underway for several weeks.

"Ten days ago the attorney general's office conducted a raid in Bogota and found computer equipment that is being examined by technical investigators," he said, speaking on condition of anonymity.

In 2011, President Juan Manuel Santos disbanded an intelligence agency, the Administrative Department of Security, which was involved in the alleged illegal wiretapping of leftist politicians and was said to have links to right-wing paramilitary groups.

Since November 2012, his government has been in negotiations with the FARC, the country's largest guerrilla group, aimed at ending a half century old insurgency.

The government's delegation to the peace talks in Havana is led by former vice president Humberto de la Calle, Sergio Jaramillo and Alejandro Eder.

In Havana, de la Calle declined to comment on the Semana report. A FARC delegate, Victoria Sandino, said the rebel group would make a statement on Wednesday.

"We knew there was spying, that's obvious," a member of the Farc delegation said, speaking on condition of anonymity.

"The news here is that a sector of military intelligence was spying on the presidency."