WASHINGTON (CN) - A federal judge ordered the CIA to extend its search for records on Pablo Escobar and the Colombian organization known People Persecuted by Pablo Escobar in response to a Freedom of Information Act request.
The Institute for Political Studies sued the CIA in 2006, claiming that the agency improperly redacted and failed to completely search for records on the Columbian drug king pin, his death and the organization known as "PEPES," or the Perseguidos por Pablo Escobar - People Persecuted by Pablo Escobar.
U.S. District Judge Royce Lamberth ruled that the CIA was justified in its redactions, but was incomplete with its search.
"The Court finds that defendant failed to perform an adequate search by failing to search three of their five directorates as well as failing to search for plaintiff's requested term 'Pablo Escobar,'" stated U.S. Chief Judge Royce Lamberth.
The judge ruled in favor of the CIA's motion to dismiss the Institute's request for a fee waiver.
Pablo Escobar ran one of the largest drug cartels in the world out of Columbia, earning him a spot on Forbes' list of 227 billionaires in 1989 with a net work of $3 billion. Escobar was shot and killed by Colombian National Police in 1993.
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