Nicolás Maduro, wife arrive in New York after being captured by US forces

Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, were escorted off a Department of Justice (DOJ) plane by federal agents in upstate New York on Saturday afternoon after being captured by US forces at their South American compound earlier in the day.

The couple is expected to be transported to Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) headquarters before being taken to the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn, a source told Fox News.

Maduro is charged with narco-terrorism conspiracy, cocaine importation conspiracy, possession of machine guns and destructive devices, and conspiracy to possess machine guns and destructive devices against the United States

His wife and son are also listed as defendants in the indictment.

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President Donald Trump shared a photo of Maduro after his capture aboard the USS Iwo Jima, but he and his wife could not be seen clearly due to darkness as they got off the plane in New York.

“Operation Absolute Resolve” follows a series of US military strikes against suspected drug vessels with alleged links to the US. Venezuelan regime in the Caribbean Sea and Eastern Pacific.

The Venezuelan government said in a statement that the attack was carried out to seize the country’s oil and minerals and was an attempt to impose a colonial war to “destroy the republican form of government and force a ‘regime change’ in alliance with the fascist oligarchy.”

Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro is escorted away by authorities while he is detained on a Justice Department plane in upstate New York on Saturday. (ABC Affiliate WABC via Reuters)

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Trump confirmed that US forces remained in place and warned that the US was ready to launch a “second and much larger attack”.

“We’re there now and we’ll stay there until there’s a proper transition,” Trump said.

Police patrol the West Side Heliport in New York City on Saturday ahead of the expected arrival of ousted Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro. Maduro and his wife came to the United States after being captured by US forces in Caracas. (Angela Weiss/AFP via Getty Images)

“The United States will remain in control of Venezuela until we can achieve a safe, appropriate and reasonable transition,” Trump said.

The operation comes nearly 40 years after the US military last deposed a leader in Latin America.

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Panamanian dictator Manuel Noriega was successfully overthrown in 1989, but this led to long-term difficulties in stabilizing the administration.

While celebrations in Venezuela began in other countries, Fox News reported that people in the country were stockpiling food for fear of instability.

Fox News Digital’s Morgan Phillips contributed to this report.