VENEZUELAN police Tuesday arrested Hugo Chavez’s powerful former spy chief, on accusations of sowing unrest as he leads a movement of disgruntled leftists seeking to replace President Nicolas Maduro.

Miguel Rodriguez Torres was speaking at an event organized by female activists from his political movement in a Caracas hotel when he calmly stopped his speech and left the podium, saying he had “received a notification that requires me to urgently leave.”

Moments later, he was escorted into the back of a police vehicle and driven away by what witnesses said were heavily armed agents from the Sebin intelligence police — the same force he created in 2010 while serving as Chavez’s trusted adviser.

Indira Urbaneja, an aide who was also detained at the event, said the two were taken to the Sebin headquarters before she was released and Rodriguez Torres was taken to another unknown location.

In a statement read on state TV, the government said Rodriguez Torres was being sought by the judiciary for plotting to undermine the military’s chain of command and disturb the peace.

Rodriguez Torres is a former army major general who served alongside Chavez in a failed 1992 coup.

For over a year, he has been quietly building a movement to challenge Maduro in presidential elections, but earlier this year was barred from holding office for 12 months on what supporters call trumped-up charges of not presenting a sworn affidavit declaring his assets and income.

(SD-Agencies)