Alleged plot to take Uribe's kids foiled

Colombia's police chief said Thursday that his forces have foiled an alleged plot to kidnap President Alvaro Uribe's two adult children after monitoring the cell phone calls of jailed guerrillas.

Police received a tip from confidential sources and seven months ago began monitoring the phone conversations of three Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC, leaders held in a maximum-security prison, said Gen. Oscar Naranjo, head of Colombia's police.

"In the perverse mafia logic of the FARC, I imagine they viewed (Uribe's children) as an extremely valuable booty," Naranjo said during a news conference.

In a recording from Oct. 8 that was played for reporters, one of the inmates apparently tells another rebel on the outside of a plan to do a "job" on the "Senor from Villa Magdalena" — a reference to the president — and his children.

Villa Magdalena is a neighborhood in Neiva where a huge explosion ripped through a house adjacent to the southern city's airport, killing 18 people on the eve of a February 2003 visit by Uribe.

Based on this and other evidence that Naranjo would not reveal, the police concluded that the elite Teofilo Forero mobile unit of the FARC planned to kidnap Tomas Uribe, 26, and Jeronimo Uribe, 24.

"The investigation is ongoing and we don't want to ruin it," said Naranjo.

The president's office did not comment on the alleged plot.

Naranjo said security for the two children has been reinforced, and prosecutors will determine whether to press new charges against the jailed rebels.