Maduro in custody in New York

Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro has arrived at a detention center in New York after United States President Donald Trump ordered an operation aimed at arresting the South American leader and taking control of Venezuela and its vast oil reserves.

The plane carrying Maduro landed near New York on Saturday evening, after which he was transferred to the city by helicopter, before being taken, in a large convoy and under heavy police escort, to the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn, Reuters reports.

Footage released by US authorities shows Maduro handcuffed and blindfolded during the flight, and then being escorted down a corridor at the offices of the US Drug Enforcement Agency, where he was heard to wish "Happy New Year".

Indicted on multiple federal counts, including conspiracy to commit narco-terrorism, Maduro is scheduled to make his first appearance in federal court in Manhattan on Monday, according to a Justice Department official.

In a dramatic operation carried out early Saturday that knocked out power to parts of Caracas and included strikes on military installations, US Special Forces arrested Maduro and his wife Cilia Flores and transferred them by helicopter to a US Navy ship anchored off the coast before being flown to the United States.

"We will govern the country until we can conduct a safe and orderly transition," Trump said yesterday at a press conference at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida.

For months, the Trump administration has criticized Maduro, 63, for what it says is his involvement in drug trafficking into the U.S. The pressure has been compounded by a massive military buildup in the Caribbean and a series of deadly missile attacks on ships allegedly involved in drug smuggling.