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 U.S. 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 incarcerated at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn, a source told Fox News.

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

The indictment also names his wife and son as defendants.

A DOJ plane carrying captured Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro and his wife lands at Stewart Air National Guard Base in Newburgh, New York, on Saturday. (WNYW)

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President Donald Trump shared a photo of Maduro after his capture aboard the USS Iwo Jima, although he and his wife were not clearly seen disembarking the plane in New York, due to darkness.

“Operation Absolute Resolve” follows a series of US military strikes against drug ships suspected of being linked to Venezuelan diet in the Caribbean Sea and the 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 ‘regime change,’ in alliance with the fascist oligarchy.”

Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro is led by officials as he is taken into custody from a DOJ plane Saturday in upstate New York. (ABC WABC affiliate via Reuters)

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Trump warned that the United States was prepared to launch a “second, much larger attack,” confirming that American forces remain in position.

“We are there now and we will remain there until a proper transition can take place,” Trump said.

Police patrol New York’s West Side heliport on Saturday, ahead of the expected arrival of deposed Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro. Maduro and his wife arrived in the United States after his capture by American forces in Caracas. (Angela Weiss/AFP via Getty Images)

The United States will maintain control of Venezuela “until we can make a safe, appropriate and wise transition,” Trump said.

The operation comes nearly 40 years after the U.S. military last removed a leader in Latin America.

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Panamanian dictator Manuel Noriega was successfully overthrown in 1989, although this created long-term challenges in stabilizing governance.

As Venezuelan celebrations began in other countries, Fox News reported that people in the country were stockpiling food out of fear of instability.

Morgan Phillips of Fox News Digital contributed to this report.