Maduro, Flores head to federal court over narco-terrorism charges
New York: Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, are set to appear before a federal judge on Monday (local time), after US authorities confirmed that the case will be heard in the Southern District of New York on Sunday, CBS News reported.
The spokesperson said that Maduro and his wife are scheduled to appear before a federal court at 12 pm on Monday.
This will mark their first court appearance after Washington on Saturday carried out a "large-scale strike against Venezuela", and Nicolas Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, were captured and flown out of the country.
Maduro and Flores were captured in Caracas and flown out of the country in a joint operation involving intelligence agencies and US law enforcement.
Both reached New York on Saturday afternoon, several hours after they were removed from their residence in Caracas, taken to the USS Iwo Jima warship, and later flown to the United States to face criminal charges.
Maduro arrived at the Metropolitan Detention Centre, a federal prison in Brooklyn, at around 8:52 pm ET on Saturday. As of Saturday night, he was not expected to be held in a separate wing, while the details of his wife's detention status were not known, CBS News reported.
The prison was built in the 1990s to combat prison overcrowding. The facility has housed people, including singer R Kelly, "Pharma Bro" Martin Shkreli, socialite Ghislaine Maxwell, one-time cryptocurrency whiz kid Sam Bankman-Fried and music mogul Sean "Diddy" Combs. Suspected cartel leader Ismael "El Mayo" Zambada Garcia was also held there as he awaited trial on murder and drug trafficking charges, as per CNN.
In an indictment filed in the Southern District of New York against Maduro, along with members of his family and cabinet, the United States has accused the South American leader of conspiring to engage in allleged narco-terrorism and to import cocaine.
According to the indictment unsealed by Attorney General Pam Bondi, he is also charged with possessing and conspiring to possess machine guns and other destructive weapons.
