Sri Lanka, Jan. 5 -- Venezuela's deposed leader Nicolas Maduro arrived at a New York court on Monday to face drug charges while the U.N. was to debate the legality of U.S. President Donald Trump's extraordinary operation to capture him.

In the biggest U.S. intervention in Latin America since the 1989 invasion of Panama, Special Forces swooped into Caracas on helicopters at the weekend to smash through Maduro's security cordon and nab him at the door of a safe room.

Maduro and his also-captured wife Cilia Flores were taken by armed guards soon after 7 a.m. (1200 GMT) on Monday from a Brooklyn detention center to a helicopter that whisked them to the Manhattan federal court where they faced a midday hearing.

Maduro is accused of overseei...