Caracas, March 14 (RHC)--Venezuelan security forces have detained Miguel Rodriguez Torres, a former interior minister and intelligence chief  under charges of connection to armed attacks on public institutions last year.

The former official was apprehended Tuesday as part of an operation to dismantle "aggressive and violent plans" against the government, according to a statement from Venezuela's Communications Ministry.

"He has been captured and handed over to the justice system," read the statement. 

Local lawmakers also confirmed the reports. 

Rodriguez, an army major-general who served under late leader Hugo Chavez as well as current president Nicolas Maduro, was arrested during an event at the President Hotel in Caracas by agents from the Bolivarian National Intelligence Service, or Sebin.

Rodriguez had been linked to Oscar Perez, the leader of an armed opposition cell that staged a series of armed attack on government buildings and institutions, including an attack on the Supreme Court of Justice.