HAVANA, May 7. /TASS/. Venezuela’s law enforcement officers have detained three more mercenaries, who earlier attempted to infiltrate the republic’s territory, the country’s Defense Minister Vladimir Padrino Lopez said.

"Armed forces, jointly with the people, continue to chase mercenaries and terrorists who dared to enter our territory to kill President Nicolas Maduro and drown our country in blood. Three of them were captured on the Junquito-Carayaca highway," he wrote on Twitter, attaching a photograph of the three detainees.

On May 3, the Venezuelan authorities announced that they had successfully foiled an attempt to infiltrate the country by a mercenary group travelling from Colombia looking to stage a coup in Venezuela. According to Maduro, among them were US citizens, who worked for the incumbent US president’s security service. Earlier, the Venezuelan authorities said 17 mercenaries had been detained.