MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Venezuela ex intelligence chief missing after Spanish court agrees to his extradition to the US

Known as “El Pollo” (the Chicken), Carvajal was stripped of his rank by Maduro after coming out in support of Guaido as Venezuela's acting president in February

Venezuela's former military intelligence chief has gone missing in Spain just days after a court-approved a request for his extradition to the United States on drug trafficking charges, police said on Wednesday

“They are currently looking for him,” said a spokeswoman for Spain's national police, referring to General Hugo Armando Carvajal.

Judicial sources said police had gone to his house in Madrid after Friday's court decision but could not find him.

In mid-September, Spain's National Court had rejected a US extradition request, instead ordering the release of Carvajal, who served as intelligence chief under the late Venezuelan leader Hugo Chavez.

His release followed five months in provisional detention after being arrested in Madrid in mid-April.

But the court reversed that decision on Friday after accepting an appeal from the public prosecutor's office, although full details of the ruling have not yet been made public.

Carvajal's lawyer María Dolores de Arguelles said she had “not been informed” they were going to rearrest him, adding that she did not know his whereabouts. She had also not received the full transcript of Friday's decision, which court sources said would be released in the coming days.

Known as “El Pollo” (the Chicken), Carvajal was stripped of his rank by the administration of President Nicolas Maduro after coming out in support of Juan Guaido as Venezuela's acting president in February.

He then fled by boat to the Dominican Republic before relocating to Spain.

Carvajal has long been sought by US Treasury officials who suspect him of providing support to drug trafficking by the FARC guerrilla group in Colombia.