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American officials claim the armed forces mission to capture Venezuela's president involved many weeks of planning, however when Donald Trump gave the command to commence, "Operation Absolute Resolve" only lasted roughly 150 minutes.

The surprise early-morning assault on Saturday marked an unprecedented incident within modern politics and resulted in the detention for Venezuela's president along with his spouse, Cilia Flores.

Captured by troops from an elite American military force when they tried to escape into a heavily secured panic room, the two are currently detained in a detention centre within New York City and face narco-terrorism accusations.

The Early Morning Raid against Fuerte Tiuna

As the sun rose that morning, the scale of the armed intervention in Caracas, the nation's capital, was evident.

Images from the vast military base, an enormous army installation where key officials live, show destroyed structures and burned, smoking vehicles.

The location was this facility where the president and first lady were captured, a senior political figure Nahum Fernández indicated.

Just Moments Before - The President Gives the Order

The mission started with reports of blasts at about 02:00 in Caracas (06:00 GMT).

The US cut power across the capital, the President later described, calling it "dark and deadly".

The aim was to neutralize Venezuela's air defences and clear the way for American assault helicopters to get to the target.

Our evaluation was that we had maintained completely the element of surprise", the top general commented.

Strike locations included the compound, a port and an airfield. Pictures show the complex on fire, with massive fires visible from a great distance.

Residents have described the way American choppers flew at low altitude over Caracas, heading for Fuerte Tiuna.

Some of the helicopters were shot at, however managed to continue flying, officials stated.

"It was a lot of gunfire," the President noted.

A Lightning-Fast Ground Assault

After landing, troops from an elite special operations unit, acted with speed.

They entered to the compound at 02:01 Caracas time, and the Maduros "gave up" without resistance, according to accounts.

But, more details emerged. The Maduros tried to escape into a secure location, referred to as a heavily fortified bunker.

"The safe place was constructed of steel, and he failed to make it inside because our guys were too quick.

It featured an extremely heavy entryway, a very heavy door," the President told reporters. "He made it the entrance. He could not to close it."

However, even assuming they had succeeded to get into the bunker, troops could have breached it in approximately "under a minute."

From Caracas to Manhattan

Currently under American detention, the couple were transported approximately 3,400 kilometers, to Manhattan.

They were flown out of Caracas by helicopter, and transferred to the USS Iwo Jima, a warship stationed off the coast. The operation was back in international waters before 4:30 AM.

It was on the ship that one of the defining pictures of the whole operation emerged - the president in handcuffs, wearing ear protectors and darkened eyewear that looked like opaque glasses.

From the USS Iwo Jima, his initial stop was to the US Navy base at Guantánamo Bay.

They then traveled on a government plane to a military airfield in New York, and then via helicopter into New York City.

Confronting The Legal System in American Soil

That same day, footage emerged showing Maduro at the federal drug agency's main office in New York.

He and Cilia Flores are now detained at a federal holding facility within the city.

They face charges with planning narco-terrorism and import cocaine, owning automatic weapons and explosives, and plots to acquire machine guns and destructive devices against the US.

"They will soon face the complete force of the US legal system in the United States in American courts," a senior legal official declared.

Footage shows the leader's entry in US and journey to detention.