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Eight seized FARC computer exhibits
5:50am-7:50am:
Colombian authorities conducted a narco-trafficking and counter-terrorist operation against a suspected camp of the Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia (FARC) Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia. The camp was
located at co-ordinates N 00 21 45 W 76 20, 1.9km (1.2 miles) on the Ecuadorian side of the border with Colombia across from the province of Putumayo. 3 Laptop computers, 2 External Hard disks and 3 USB thumb drives were recovered onsite. -
Press Conference
Truth unfolds about Colombians violating Ecuatorian territory. The incident is categorized as a massacre. -
Exhibits are Storaged in the Colombian Judicial Police's computer forensics unit custody.
11:45am (Local time)
Exhibits are handed over to the Colombian Judicial Police's computer forensics unit, which kept the 8 seized FARC computer exhibits in its custody unitl provided to the IRT. -
Request for assistance from Colombia
INTERPOL recieves request via two separate channels seeking its independent computer forensic technical assistance to examine the user files on the 8 seized FARC computer exhibits and to determine whether any of the user files had been newly created, modified or deleted following the seizure by the Colombian authorities on 1 March 2008. -
Incident Response Team approval (Deployment)
INTERPOL's proposal was accepted by Director Hurtado Afanador in a letter addressed to the Secretary General Ronald K. Noble. -
Message to all INTERPOL National Central Bureaus
The Secretary General sent a message to INTERPOL’s Senior Vice-President Arturo Herrera Verdugo and to all members of its Executive Committee, as well as to all 186 INTERPOL National Central Bureaus, To clearly explain what had been agreed with the Colombian authorities and to emphasize that INTERPOL’s role was exclusively technical. -
Organization of American States Support INTERPOL's involvement
INTERPOL Secretary General spoke by telephone with Mr José Miguel Insulza, Secretary General of the Organization of American States (OAS) to advise him of the exclusively
technical expertise to be provided by INTERPOL. Secretary General Insulza stated that he strongly and publicly supported INTERPOL’s providing an independent examination to determine whether any user files had been newly created, modified or deleted from the eight seized FARC
computer exhibits. -
Date of arrival (DOA) of INTERPOL's IRT
Date of arrival of the INTERPOL delegation team to Bogota ,Colombia. The team consists of a 6 person delegation which includes 4 IRT members and INTERPOL's General Counsel. -
INTERPOL IRT begin Operations. (Briefing)
Officers from the Colombian Judicial Police's computer forensics unit briefed the IRT about chain of custody, equipment and software used, as well as the procedures the officers had followed in the handling of the 8 seized FARC exhibits up to this point. -
Return of the 8 FARC computer exhibits.
FARC computer exhibits were returned to the attorney leading the investigation. The receipt and return of each item by the IRT to the Colombian authorities were recorded on chain-of-custody stickers, which were affixed to the sealed pouches containing each item. -
First Set of Disk drives had been sealed and placed in an evidence safe
The first set of disk drives are sealed in uniquely identified pouches and placed in an evidence safe. The second set of disk drives is still used for actual analysis of the data by the INTERPOL experts, who follow internationally recognized principles for handling electronic evidence by law enforcement. -
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IRT Departure
The IRT leaves Bogota between 14 and 16 of March. -
Request for transfer to Singapore and Australia
Request for authorization for the officers concerned to continue their missions in their respective workplaces in Singapore and Australia. -
Evidence Pouches leave Colombia.
6:30pm (local time) The Pouches leave Bogota accompanied by 2 Colombian police officers. -
Arrival of Evidence
The evidence pouches arrived safely at their respective destinations on March 27 2008. -
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Forensic Examination of evidence
After receival of the working copies of the 8 seized FARC computer exhibits, INTERPOL's computer forensic experts were able to begin their examination in earnest. The forensic examination was compreted on Friday, 9 May 2008. -
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Secretary General meets with Delegation.
Secretary General arranges meetings with the heads of delegation from Colombia, Ecuador and Venezuela to explain the exclusively technical remit of INTERPOL's assistance to Colombia. -
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Singapore and Australia experts travel to INTERPOL Genral Secretariat.
The 2 experts from Australia and Singapore travel to INTERPOL General Secretariat to brief a working group of external forensic experts and INTERPOL officials on the methodology used and steps taken to reach their conclusions.