and his wife were flown out of the country in a military operation in conjunction with US law enforcement. They have been charged with drug and weapons offences in New York.

It comes after explosions were reported across the capital Caracas in the early hours of Saturday morning, including at military bases. The Venezuelan government has since demanded proof Maduro is alive. It has also deployed its armed forces and declared a national emergency. Maduro's capture comes after heightened tensions between the two countries, with Washington striking boats in the Caribbean it says are being used to carry drugs. The US has accused the Venezuelan president of being personally involved in drug-smuggling and being an illegitimate leader, while Maduro has accused the US of intimidation.

Maduro was captured by the US army's Delta force - the military's top counter terrorism unit - according to the BBC's US news partner CBS. Trump told Fox and Friends on Saturday that Maduro and his wife were taken from "a house that was more like a fortress". The president said US forces were prepared with "massive blowtorches" to cut through steel, but said Maduro "did not make it into that area of the house". Trump said no US forces were killed and there were "few" injuries in the operation, which he said he watched live.

Maduro and his wife were then put on a ship on their way to New York. A CIA source inside the Venezuelan government helped the US track Maduro's location in the lead-up to his capture, the BBC's US news partner CBS News reported. The human source was part of an extensive network of other intelligence that informed the operation, which was the result of months of planning. He said US forces had been "prepared for a second wave" but did not have to conduct one because the first was "so powerful".

Republican Senator Mike Lee, who spoke to US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, said "he [Rubio] anticipates no further action in Venezuela now that Maduro is in US custody, adding that the strikes were "deployed to protect and defend those executing the arrest warrant". (BBC)