RIO DE JANEIRO, Jan. 21 (Xinhua) -- Hundreds of members of the Landless Workers Movement (MST) Monday occupied a farm owned by Colombian drug lord Juan Carlos Ramirez Abadia, arrested in August 2007 by the Brazilian police.

    Around 300 families took over the land during the morning, arguing that the farm was acquired with illegal gains and should be used to help the government fulfill a target to settle 1,000 families by April.

    Police officers said they were studying ways to evict the farmers peacefully but refused to give further details.

    The government sold the 129-hectare property at a public auction Monday. The Finca farm is located in Guaiba, in the state of Rio Grande do Sul, southern Brazil, and its market value is estimated at 1.7 million reais (935,000 U.S. dollars), but it was sold at 850,000 reais (467,000 dollars) to a bidder.

    The international drug lord, one of the leaders of the Norte Del Valle Cartel, was charged with over 300 murders and trafficking over 1,000 tons of cocaine into U.S. territory. He is trying to avoid trial in Brazil and begin confinement in the United States.