CARACAS: An American citizen and two Spaniards have been detained in Venezuela on suspicion of links to an alleged plan to destabilise the country, Interior Minister Diosdado Cabello said Saturday, adding that hundreds of weapons were seized.

The two Spanish nationals were recently detained in Puerto Ayacucho, Cabello told a press conference, adding that an American was also in custody on suspicion of planning to "generate violence" and "destabilise" Venezuela.

He added that around 400 rifles originating in the United States had also been seized.

The arrests come amid heightened tensions between Venezuela and both the US and Spain over the disputed Venezuelan presidential election, which the country's opposition accuses incumbent strongman Nicolas Maduro of stealing.

Earlier this week Caracas recalled its ambassador to Madrid for consultations and summoned Spain's envoy to Venezuela for talks after a Spanish minister accused Maduro of running a "dictatorship."

Venezuela was also angered by the decision of Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez to meet with Venezuelan opposition candidate Edmundo Gonzalez Urrutia, who went into exile in Spain after being threatened with arrest by Maduro's regime.

Caracas has also been engaged in a war of words with the United States, which recognised Gonzalez Urrutia as the winner of the July 28 poll.

Maduro insists he won a third term but has failed to release detailed voting tallies to back his claim.

Washington on Thursday announced new sanctions against 16 Venezuelan officials, including some from the electoral authority, for impeding "a transparent electoral process" and not publishing accurate results.

Venezuela denounced the measures as a "crime of aggression" and Maduro decorated four military officers among those targeted by the sanctions.

 - AFP