Madrid, Jul 19 (AP) The former Venezuelan spy chief, retired Maj. Gen. Hugo Carvajal, wanted on charges of drug trafficking by the United States, is on his way from Spain to the New York on extradition orders, an official with knowledge of the case and his lawyer said on Wednesday.

A person at Spain's National Court with knowledge of the extradition confirmed to The Associated Press that Carvajal had left the country.

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The person spoke anonymously because she was not authorised to speak publicly about the case.

According to his US lawyer, Zachary Margulis-Ohnuma, Carvajal is expected to land in New York later on Wednesday.

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For more than a decade, Carvajal advised the late Venezuelan leader Hugo Chávez before breaking with his successor Nicolás Maduro. He had been fighting extradition to the US since he was arrested in Spain in April 2019.

Prosecutors in New York allege that Carvajal used his high office to coordinate the smuggling of approximately 5,600 kilograms (12,300 pounds) of cocaine from Venezuela to Mexico in 2006.

Carvajal also allegedly provided weapons to armed FARC guerrillas in Colombia, according to the US Treasury Department, and helped fund the group's activities by facilitating shipments of large amounts of US-bound cocaine through Venezuela.

A close collaborator of Chávez, Carvajal left Venezuela after he broke with Maduro, throwing his support behind the opposition to Maduro's Socialist regime.

Carvajal had delayed extradition until now on appeal, which he ultimately lost.(AP)

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)