Venezuelan official Alex Saab, a former businessman once held in the US, was arrested in Venezuela on Wednesday as part of a joint operation between US and Venezuelan authorities, a US law enforcement official said.

Axar.az informs, citing Reuters, Colombian-born Saab, a close ally of former Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, was detained in Cape Verde in 2020 and held in the US for more than three years on bribery charges, before being granted clemency in exchange for the release of Americans held in Venezuela.

Colombian newspaper El Espectador later on Wednesday cited a lawyer for Saab, Luigi Giuliano, denying the arrest as “fake news.” Journalists aligned with Venezuela’s government also denied in social media posts that Saab had been arrested.

Saab, 54, is expected to be extradited to the US in the coming days, the US official said.

Raul Gorrin, the head of Venezuela’s Globovision TV network, was also arrested in the operation, according to the official.

Alex Saab was industry minister of Venezuela, a position he held until last month, when he was removed by interim President Delcy Rodriguez.