CARACAS – The deputy director of Venezuela’s SBI intelligence service, Luis Correa, was arrested on accusations that he spied on officials, media outlets said Monday.

“Correa was arrested at the DIM (military intelligence headquarters) and it is presumed that among the charges against him are intercepting messages and e-mails from top government officials, betraying the fatherland, illegally weapons possession and sale of classified information to foreign powers,” Globovision television said.

The SBI official was named in January 2006 as the first director of Venezuela’s ONA counter-narcotics agency, remaining in that post for a year.

Correa “is an expert in communications and is said to have tried to trace” the communications of Interior Minister Tarek El Aissami, Caracas daily El Nacional said.

“Official DIM spokesmen are maintaining total secrecy regarding the alleged apprehension,” the newspaper said on its Web page.

Another capital daily, El Universal, reported on its Web page that Correa was arrested “on Saturday night for not yet clarified reasons.” EFE