Armored vehicle carrying Maduro arrives at New York court [Provided by ABC affiliate WABC. New York Reuters=Yonhap News]

Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, arrested and extradited to the United States in a surprise raid by the U.S. military, arrived at the U.S. Southern District Court in Manhattan, New York, on the 5th (local time) for his first court appearance.

According to Reuters, AP, and CNN, President Maduro began his transfer from the Metropolitan Correctional Center in Brooklyn, New York, where he was being held, around 7:15 AM that day.

Given the sensitivity of a sitting head of state appearing in a U.S. court as a criminal defendant, U.S. authorities implemented a high level of security during Maduro's transfer from the correctional facility to the courthouse.

President Maduro, transported by helicopter from a nearby sports field, was escorted to a heliport in Manhattan near the court.

Heavily armed agents from the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) and other agencies were seen escorting President Maduro, who appeared to be handcuffed, and his wife, Cilia Flores, from the heliport on the riverside. They were then transported to the courthouse in an armored vehicle.

The Maduro couple is scheduled to undergo an arraignment at the court at noon U.S. Eastern Time that day (2:00 AM KST on the 6th).

This marks the first time President Maduro, indicted on charges of "narcoterrorism," including drug trafficking and money laundering, during the first Trump administration in 2020, has appeared in a U.S. court. It is also extremely unusual for a sitting head of state to appear in a foreign court while in detention.

In the indictment unsealed by the U.S. Department of Justice on the 3rd, President Maduro is accused of conspiring with drug cartels to smuggle thousands of tons of cocaine into the United States. If convicted of these charges, he could face a life sentence.

In addition to President Maduro, the indictment also lists First Lady Flores, his son, Venezuela's Minister of Interior and Justice, former Minister of Interior, and Hécton Luis Ludeña Guerrero Flores, known as the head of Venezuela's international drug and crime organization Tren de Aragua, as defendants.

The indictment alleges that President Maduro and First Lady Flores ordered the kidnapping, beating, and murder of individuals who were debtors of drug money or who interfered with drug trafficking activities. The indictment also includes charges of murder of a local drug lord in Caracas.

First Lady Flores is also accused of receiving hundreds of thousands of dollars (hundreds of millions of won) in exchange for arranging a meeting in 2007 between a major drug trafficker and the head of Venezuela's National Anti-Drug Directorate.

Judge Alvin Hellerstein, 92, will preside over President Maduro's trial. Judge Hellerstein, appointed by then-President Bill Clinton in 1998, has been handling drug-related cases involving President Maduro for over a decade.

U.S. media outlets have predicted that the Maduro couple will plead not guilty to the charges against them.

They are also likely to argue that the U.S. arrest operation itself is illegal, given his status as head of a sovereign state.

This is similar to the argument made by Panama's dictator Manuel Noriega, who was arrested by the United States in 1990 and argued in a U.S. court. However, the court did not accept this argument, and Noriega was sentenced to 40 years in prison.

President Maduro and his wife were arrested on the 3rd by U.S. military personnel and U.S. Department of Justice officials at a safe house in Caracas, the Venezuelan capital, following a surprise military operation by the U.S. forces, and were extradited to New York the same day.