US drug enforcement agents attended ‘sex parties’: Report

US drug enforcement agents in a foreign country attended “sex parties” with prostitutes over several years which were funded by local drug cartels, according to a new report. 

Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) agents, including senior supervisors, had sex with prostitutes and committed other serious sexual misconduct, said a report published by the US Justice Department.

The DEA is a federal law enforcement agency under the US Department of Justice tasked with combating drug smuggling and use within the United States.

The report by the Justice Department's Office of the Inspector General did not disclose where the parties took place, but a federal law enforcement official told the Associated Press the parties occurred in Colombia.

DEA agents were also provided money, expensive gifts and weapons from drug cartel members, the report said. Furthermore, the sex parties took place in US government-paid apartments.

"Most of the sex parties occurred in government-leased quarters where agents' laptops, BlackBerry devices and other government issued equipment were present ... potentially exposing them to extortion, blackmail or coercion,'' the report said.

The report cited "repeated allegations of DEA Special Agents ... patronizing prostitutes and frequenting a brothel while in an overseas posting."

US Representative Jason Chaffetz, a Republican from Utah and chairman of the House of Representatives Oversight and Government Reform Committee, called the allegations as "truly stunning.''

"Let there be no mistake, this is a national security threat,'' Chaffetz said in a written statement. “We need to hold them accountable, and given the clear evidence in the OIG report, they should be fired immediately.''

The report has raised concerns about inadequate reporting of sexual misconduct and harassment by agents in some federal law enforcement agencies, including the DEA, the US Marshals Service, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF).

In 2012, US Secret Service agents were swept up in a sex scandal while preparing for the arrival of President Barack Obama in Cartagena, Colombia.

The agents had brought several prostitutes to their hotel but US authorities were only alerted to the incident when one of the agents became involved in a dispute over payment to one of the prostitutes.

AHT/AGB

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