Venezuela to charge 8 police in young men's disappearance, death

CARACAS (Reuters) - Eight policemen in Venezuela are to be charged after two young men were taken into custody then found shot dead in bushes, the country's public prosecutor's office said on Monday. Venezuela has the second worst homicide rate in the world, according to United Nations, and government officials acknowledge police are often involved in violent crime. Alejandro Garcia, 22, and Jose Frias, 20, were picked up by police on Feb. 16 in western Zulia state "and then disappeared until the following day when they were found in bushes with various gunshots," the public prosecutor's office said. One civilian is to be charged along with the eight policemen, all of whom were arrested at the end of February, it said, without giving any more details of the case. Local media reported the two may have been targeted for money they had hoped to invest in a pizzeria. Their deaths came the same week that three other young men were found murdered, two in the capital Caracas and one in western Tachira state. The Caracas pair had been protesting against the government shortly before their deaths, friends said, leading some activists to suggest political motives. The student in Tachira was likely killed for his motorbike, according to his girlfriend. (Reporting by Andrew Cawthorne and Alexandra Ulmer; Writing by Andrew Cawthorne; editing by Andrew Hay)