Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro arrived Saturday evening at a military base in the United States and was transferred to New York City, after his capture by US forces in Caracas.

FBI agents surrounded Maduro as he descended from a US government plane and slowly escorted him along the tarmac at a National Guard facility in New York state.

The leftist leader was then flown by helicopter to Manhattan, where a large law enforcement contingent awaited, AFP images showed.

The 63-year-old leader was to be taken first to the offices of the US Drug Enforcement Administration, then to the Metropolitan Detention Center, a federal facility in Brooklyn, according to US media.

The detention center is the same jail where rapper Sean "Diddy" Combs was held throughout his trial last year.

Maduro and his wife are to be arraigned at an unspecified date before a judge in New York.

They have been charged with "narco-terrorism," importing tons of cocaine into the United States, and possession of illegal weapons.