US, Dec 05 : Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, are scheduled to make their first appearance before a US federal court on Monday, American authorities have confirmed.
The hearing will take place in the Southern District of New York, with the couple expected to appear before a judge at noon local time, officials said.
This marks Maduro and Flores’ first court appearance since they were removed from Venezuela over the weekend as part of a large-scale US led operation. Washington has confirmed that the couple was detained following coordinated action involving US law enforcement and intelligence agencies.
According to officials, Maduro and Flores were arrested in Caracas and taken out of the country in a carefully planned operation. They were initially transferred to the USS Iwo Jima, a US Navy warship, before being flown to the United States. Both arrived in New York on Saturday afternoon.
Maduro was later moved to the Metropolitan Detention Center (MDC) in Brooklyn at around 8.52 pm local time, US officials said, adding that he is not being held in a separate unit. Details regarding Flores’ detention arrangements were not immediately disclosed, according to CBS News.
The Brooklyn detention facility, constructed in the 1990s to reduce overcrowding in federal prisons, has previously housed several high-profile inmates. These include former pharmaceutical executive Martin Shkreli, cryptocurrency entrepreneur Sam Bankman-Fried, socialite Ghislaine Maxwell, singer R Kelly, and music producer Sean “Diddy” Combs. Alleged cartel leader Ismael “El Mayo” Zambada García was also held at the facility while awaiting trial, according to CNN.
US prosecutors have filed charges against Maduro in New York, along with members of his family and senior figures from his government. The indictment accuses him of narco-terrorism and conspiring to traffic cocaine into the United States.
Court documents unsealed by US Attorney General Pam Bondi also include weapons-related charges, alleging that Maduro conspired to possess and possess machine guns and other prohibited firearms.