Venezuelan authorities say they have arrested three US citizens, two Spaniards and a Czech citizen suspected of plotting to destabilize the country.
Interior Minister Diosdado Cabello said hundreds of weapons were also seized.
The incident comes two days after Washington sanctioned 16 Venezuelan officials with close ties to Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, following his disputed election victory.
Spanish authorities have asked Caracas for more information, and the Spanish embassy in the country has also requested access to those detained.
The Venezuelan government said the arrested Spaniards were linked to Madrid’s National Intelligence Center (CNI).
However, Spanish government sources told local media that the two men were not part of the intelligence organization.
Cabello told a press conference on Saturday that the suspects were also plotting to assassinate President Maduro and other senior officials.
“They were in contact with French mercenaries, they were in contact with mercenaries from Eastern Europe and they were on an operation to attack our country,” Cabello said, adding that 400 guns were confiscated in the operation.
The arrests come amid a standoff between the Maduro administration and the United States and Spain.
On Friday, Venezuelan Foreign Minister Yván Gil summoned the Spanish ambassador in Caracas to protest a minister’s description of the Venezuelan government as a “dictatorship”, following days of rising bilateral tensions.
On Thursday, the US Treasury Department said it was targeting “key officials involved in Maduro’s fraudulent and illegitimate claim of victory and his brutal crackdown on free speech following the election.”
Venezuela’s National Electoral Council (CNE), an organization with close ties to the government, declared Maduro the winner of July’s presidential election.
But the CNE has not released any detailed vote counts in support of Maduro’s victory. Data released by the opposition shows their candidate, Edmundo González, won.
