FBI and Venezuela\u2019s intelligence agency also reportedly arrest billionaire media mogul Ra\u00fal Gorr\u00edn at same address<\/b>
\nFBI and Venezuela\u2019s intelligence agency also reportedly arrest billionaire media mogul Ra\u00fal Gorr\u00edn at same address
A close and powerful associate of the deposed Venezuelan president Nicol\u00e1s Maduro has reportedly been detained during a joint operation by Venezuela\u2019s intelligence agency and the FBI.
Alex Saab, a wealthy Colombian-Venezuelan businessman long considered Maduro\u2019s frontman, was removed from his position in Venezuela\u2019s government a fortnight after US forces captured his ally on 3 January. In the early hours of Wednesday, the 54-year-old was reportedly detained by members of the Bolivarian national intelligence service (Sebin) at a luxury home in Venezuela\u2019s capital, Caracas.
Ra\u00fal Gorr\u00edn, a billionaire media mogul who owns the Globovisi\u00f3n TV channel, was also reportedly detained at the same address.
There was no immediate confirmation of the arrests from Venezuela\u2019s government but a US official said Saab had been detained as a result of collaboration between US and Venezuelan authorities. The official said they expected Saab to be extradited to the US in the coming days.
However, Saab\u2019s lawyer, Luigi Giuliano, called reports of his client\u2019s detention \u201cfake news\u201d and told Colombia\u2019s El Espectador newspaper that he was \u201cdoing fine in Caracas\u201d. A representative for Gorr\u00edn told the New York Times that the businessman was free as of Wednesday evening.
Intelligence sources told the Colombian radio station Caracol that Saab, who had served as minister for industry and national production under Maduro, was taken into custody at about 2am and was being held at the intelligence service\u2019s detention centre.
Saab\u2019s supposed detention was the latest twist in the life of the Barranquilla-born businessman, who came to be known as one of the most important financial operators of Maduro\u2019s Chavista political movement.
In 2019, Saab was indicted in the US for allegedly being part of a corruption racket in which about $350m of government money was transferred out of Venezuela and into accounts he owned or controlled.
The following year, Saab was arrested after landing in Cape Verde while flying to Iran and, after a protracted legal battle, extradited to the US in 2021 to be charged with money laundering. He was the subject of sanctions in the UK for plundering resources destined for public programmes designed to feed and house poverty stricken Venezuelans.
However, in December 2023, Saab \u2013 who has denied the charges against him \u2013 was released as part of a prisoner swap deal with the Biden administration.
He returned to Venezuela and in 2024 Maduro made his ally a minister \u2013 a position he was stripped of on 16 January by Maduro\u2019s former number two, the country\u2019s interim leader, Delcy Rodr\u00edguez.
Saab\u2019s reported detention was a reminder of how volatile the political situation remains in Venezuela one month after Maduro\u2019s downfall upended the country\u2019s authoritarian political landscape.
Trump has claimed that the US is \u201crunning\u201d the South American country after January\u2019s special forces raid and has warned that Rodr\u00edguez could face a worse fate than Maduro if she fails to do Washington\u2019s bidding.
Since taking power, Rodr\u00edguez has removed several members of Maduro\u2019s cabinet and security apparatus, including the head of presidential security and the minister of communication and information.
However, other key names in the Chavismo movement remain in power, including the feared interior minister Diosdado Cabello, who controls Venezuela\u2019s security forces and paramilitary groups.<\/p>\n