WASHINGTON, September 12, 2008 (AFP) - The US Treasury announced Friday it was freezing any US assets of two senior Venezuelan officials and a former official after accusing them of aiding Colombian rebels involved in drug trafficking.

It said it targetted Hugo Armando Carvajal Barrios and Henry de Jesus Rangel Silva and former official Ramon Rodriguez Chacin for aiding 'the narcotics trafficking activities of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC).

'Today's action freezes any assets the designated entities and individuals may have under US jurisdiction and prohibits US persons from conducting financial or commercial transactions involving those assets,' it said in a statement.