Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro arrives at a US military base and is transferred to New York to face narco-terrorism charges
NEWBURGH: Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro arrived Saturday evening at a military base in the United States and was transferred to New York City.
His capture by US forces in Caracas preceded the arrival.
FBI agents surrounded Maduro as he descended from a US government plane at a National Guard facility in New York state.
They slowly escorted him along the tarmac.
The leftist leader was then flown by helicopter to Manhattan, where a large law enforcement contingent awaited.
The 63-year-old leader was to be taken first to the offices of the US Drug Enforcement Administration.
He was then to be moved to the Metropolitan Detention Center, a federal facility in Brooklyn.
The detention center is the same jail where rapper Sean “Diddy” Combs was held throughout his trial last year.
Maduro and his wife are to be arraigned at an unspecified date before a judge in New York.
They have been charged with “narco-terrorism,” importing tons of cocaine into the United States, and possession of illegal weapons.
