CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) -- Immigration officials played a role in an alleged paramilitary plot to assassinate President Hugo Chavez, a top federal investigator said Tuesday.

Miguel Rodriguez, director of Venezuela's federal police, said officials helped 102 Colombians travel from western Tachira state to a ranch outside the capital, where they were among 130 people arrested in May. The group intended to kill Chavez, according to investigators.

"Inside complicity ... was logical in order to move this number of people into Venezuela," Rodriguez said.

Jesus Jaimes, a former immigration official, told the local El Universal daily on Monday he received orders to escort the Colombians from the border to the capital.

Prosecutors have charged the Colombian nationals with "military rebellion," and they remain in the custody of Venezuela's military. Some detainees were suspected of having ties to Colombia's outlawed right-wing militias.

Earlier this month, Venezuela offered amnesty to 14 detained Colombians in exchange for information about the alleged plot. Five active Venezuelan military officers have been detained in the case, though no one has gone to trial.

Venezuela's opposition leaders have dismissed the arrests as a government-staged ploy to turn attention away from an August 15 presidential recall referendum. Colombian diplomats have said many of the suspects were duped into entering Venezuela with promises of work.

Authorities have not named suspected masterminds, but Chavez has accused opposition leaders backed by Washington of hatching the purported plot.

Chavez's opponents and U.S. President George W. Bush's administration deny the accusations.

Copyright 2004