CARACAS, April 19, 2025 (BSS/AFP) - Venezuela has arrested a former narcotics investigator wanted in the United States for drug trafficking, the South American country's prosecution service said Friday.

The US Department of State issued a $5 million reward in 2020 for information leading to the arrest of Jesus Alfredo Itriago, a former head of counter-narcotics investigations at Venezuela's CICPC police agency.

It accuses the 67-year-old of using his position to protect drug shipments departing Venezuela and, after several of his associates were arrested and extradited, taking over some of their lucrative drug routes himself.

Itriago was charged in Florida in 2013 with conspiracy to import cocaine into the United States.

Venezuela detained him for his "connection with drug trafficking," the prosecutor's office said Friday.

He will be charged with "conspiracy, money laundering, trafficking of narcotic and psychotropic substances, arms trafficking, and (criminal) association," it added in a statement on Instagram.