Colonia Dignidad

===Weapons violations===

In June and July 2005, Chilean police found two large illegal [[weapon|arms]] caches in or around the colony. The first, within the colony itself, included three containers with [[machine gun]]s, [[automatic rifle]]s, [[Shoulder-launched missile weapon|rocket launcher]]s, and large quantities of [[ammunition]], some as many as forty years old but with evidence of recent maintenance.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.war2hobby.cl/noticias.php/id/53 |title=Arsenal encontrado en Colonia Dignidad |website=War2Hobby.cl |date=2005-06-16 |language=es |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090912121408/http://www.war2hobby.cl/noticias.php/id/53 |archive-date=2009-09-12 |access-date=2019-07-31}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.cooperativa.cl/policia-civil-encontro-dos-depositos-de-armas-en-ex-colonia-dignidad/prontus_nots/2005-06-14/232434.html |title=Policía civil encontró dos depósitos de armas en ex Colonia Dignidad |author=Staff writers |work=[[Radio Cooperativa]] |language=es |date=2005-06-14 |access-date=2012-02-04}}</ref> This cache was described as the largest arsenal ever found in private hands in Chile. The second cache, outside a restaurant operated by the colony, included rocket launchers and [[grenade]]s.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.nzherald.co.nz/world/news/article.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10331060|title=Chile discovers weapons cache on cult grounds|date=16 June 2005|work=The New Zealand Herald|access-date=21 April 2016}}</ref>

In January 2005, former Chilean secret police operative [[Michael Townley]], then living in the United States under a witness-protection program, acknowledged to agents of [[Interpol]] Chile links between [[Dirección de Inteligencia Nacional|DINA]] and Colonia Dignidad. Townley also revealed information about Colonia Dignidad and the army's Laboratory on Bacteriological Warfare. This last laboratory would have replaced the old DINA laboratory at Vía Naranja de Lo Curro hill, where Townley worked with the chemist [[Eugenio Berríos]]. Townley also gave proof of biological experiments, related to the two aforementioned laboratories, on political prisoners at Colonia Dignidad.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.cooperativa.cl/p4_noticias/site/artic/20050330/pags/20050330114755.html |title=Michael Townley fue interrogado por muerte de Frei Montalva |author=Staff writers |work=[[Radio Cooperativa]] |language=es |date=2005-03-30 |access-date=2016-04-21 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20120729162016/http://www.cooperativa.cl/p4_noticias/site/artic/20050330/pags/20050330114755.html |archive-date=2012-07-29}}</ref>