US veteran charged with arms smuggling over failed Maduro ouster plot

Jordan Goudreau, 48, was indicted in federal court in Tampa, Florida, with plotting to send AR-type firearms, night vision devices, laser sights and other equipment to Colombia without the required US export licenses, court records made public on Wednesday showed.

New York: A US military veteran has been charged with violating US arms export control laws by conspiring to ship weapons to Colombia for a failed May 2020 armed incursion aimed at ousting socialist Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro.

Goudreau was arrested on Tuesday, court records showed. He is being held at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn, New York, US Bureau of Prisons records showed.

A lawyer for Goudreau did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Goudreau, a special forces veteran who ran Florida-based security firm Silvercorp USA, claimed responsibility for a maritime raid launched from Colombia that led to the arrests of two former Green Berets, Luke Denman and Airan Berry.

Denman and Berry were released last year in a prisoner swap, in exchange for an ally of Maduro, Colombian businessman Alex Saab.

Maduro, who has ruled Venezuela since 2013, was declared the winner of a weekend election. But the opposition says its tally shows its candidate received more than double Maduro's support.