The Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro has announced capturing of an American spy in the country, late on Friday, near the Colombian border.

Maduro announced that the spy was caught in the state of Falcón, which lies on the northwestern coast near the Colombian border.

The unnamed spy is reportedly a former US Marine who had also worked for the CIA in Iraq. The local media claims the American was captured with heavy weapons and a large amount of US dollars.

Also read: Venezuela court sentences two former US soldiers to 20 years in prison for beach attack

It is being believed that the spy was on a mission to target Venezuela’s oil refineries for an attack.

The reports have not yet been confirmed by the Venezuelan government. Further details are to be released soon.

The capture has been made few months after the ‘Operation Gedeon’, in which a private mercenary firm Silvercorp USA and the opposition political parties, reportedly, signed a deal to capture, detain or remove the President.

The attempted coup was spotted and stopped in the starting of May this year.