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American officials claim their military operation to capture Venezuela's leader took months of planning, but when Donald Trump gave the order to commence, the mission dubbed "Absolute Resolve" concluded after approximately 150 minutes.

The surprise pre-dawn attack this past weekend marked a never-before-seen incident within contemporary international relations and culminated in the detention of Venezuela's president along with his wife, Cilia Flores.

Seized by troops belonging to an elite American military force as they tried to flee into a heavily secured panic room, the couple are now being held in a detention centre within New York City and are confronting narco-terrorism indictments.

A Dawn Assault against the Military Complex

With daybreak on Saturday, the scale of the armed intervention in Caracas, Venezuela's primary city, was clear.

Pictures of the vast military base, an enormous military complex in which key officials live, show destroyed buildings as well as charred, smoking vehicles.

It was at this facility that Maduro and his wife were apprehended, Venezuelan ruling party leader a party official reported.

Hours Before - The President Issues the Order

The mission started amid reports of blasts at about 2 AM in Caracas (6:00 Greenwich Mean Time).

American forces cut power across the capital, the President later described, describing it as "dark and deadly".

The objective was to disable Venezuela's air defences and open up the way for US military helicopters to get to the target.

"We assessed that we successfully kept completely the advantage of surprise," a senior military officer stated.

Strike locations encompassed the base, a port and an airport. Pictures show Fuerte Tiuna on fire, with massive fires seen from a great distance.

Venezuelans have described the way US military helicopters flew low above the city, heading for Fuerte Tiuna.

Some of the helicopters were shot at, however were still able to fly, military leaders said.

There was a lot of weapons fire," the President noted.

The Lightning-Fast Ground Assault

Once on the ground, troops from the US Army's Delta Force, sprang into action.

They entered to the compound at 02:01 Caracas time, and the Maduros "gave up" without a struggle, as per accounts.

However, further information emerged. The Maduros tried to escape into a secure location, described as a military "fortress".

The secure room is all steel, and he failed to make it to the door because our guys were so fast.

It featured an extremely heavy entryway, a massive door," Trump told reporters. "He made it to the door. He could not to shut it."

However, even assuming they had succeeded to get into the safe room, troops could have blown it open in about "47 seconds".

From the Capital to New York City

Now in US custody, Nicolás Maduro and his wife were transported approximately 2,100 miles, to New York City.

They were flown from the capital via chopper, and taken to the USS Iwo Jima, a naval vessel stationed off the coast. The operation was back "over the water" before 4:30 AM.

Aboard the vessel that one of the defining pictures of the whole operation emerged - Maduro in handcuffs, wearing ear protectors and a type of blindfold that looked like opaque glasses.

From the USS Iwo Jima, he was first flown at the American naval installation at Guantánamo Bay.

The Maduros then traveled on a government plane to Stewart Air National Guard Base in New York state, before a final helicopter transfer to Manhattan.

Confronting Justice on US Territory

That same day, a video was released depicting Maduro inside the federal drug agency's headquarters in New York.

The couple are now being held at a federal holding facility within the city.

They have been charged with planning drug-related terrorism and cocaine trafficking, owning automatic weapons and destructive devices, and plots to acquire machine guns and destructive devices against the US.

They are set to encounter the full wrath of the US legal system in the United States in American courts," a senior legal official proclaimed.

Video documents the leader's entry into American and transport to detention.