New York.- The Venezuelan president, Nicolás Maduro, descended this Saturday handcuffed from the Boeing 757 military aircraft that transported him to New York amid the extensive custody operation that accompanies him.
The Venezuelan leader arrived at the Stewart Air National Guard Base, a military airport in New York, where dozens of agents from different federal agencies, such as the FBI or the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), were waiting for him, at a temperature of -2 degrees below zero.
You may be interested in: http://Plane believed to be carrying Maduro landed in New York
Maduro is now expected to be transported by helicopter to the Metropolitan Detention Center (MDC), a federal prison located in the Brooklyn district, according to local media.
Maduro was formally indicted in 2020 by the Southern District Attorney’s Office of New York and this Saturday a substitute indictment was made public in that same court that reiterates charges of narcoterrorism, conspiracy to import cocaine and crimes related to automatic weapons.
The indictment was made public by federal judge Alvin K. Hellerstein, who was already overseeing the case opened in 2020.
The original accusation, based on a DEA investigation, identified Maduro as the leader of the Cartel of the Suns, a network linked to high-ranking Venezuelan military officials who sought to enrich themselves and “use cocaine as a weapon against the United States.”
Thus, the next step in your case is expected to take place in the coming days before the judge in Manhattan.
Maduro was detained in Miraflores, the presidential residence in Caracas, along with his wife, Cilia Flores, who has also been transferred to New York on the same plane.
Maduro and Flores must appear for the accusation of four charges related to narcoterrorism and cocaine trafficking.
