Ousted Venezuelan president Nicolas Maduro pleaded not guilty to drug trafficking and other charges at a defiant appearance in a New York court on Monday, two days after being snatched by US forces in a stunning raid on his home in Caracas.

"I am innocent. I am not guilty. I am a decent man. I am still president of my country," Maduro, 63, said through an interpreter, before being cut off by US District Judge Alvin Hellerstein in Manhattan federal court.

Maduro's wife Cilia Flores also pleaded not guilty. The next court date was set for March 17.

Maduro is accused of overseeing a cocaine-trafficking network that partnered with violent groups including Mexico’s Sinaloa and Zetas cartels, Colombian Farc rebels and Venezuela's Tren de Aragua gang.

He faces four criminal counts: narco-terrorism, cocaine importation conspiracy and possession of machine guns and destructive devices. Maduro has long denied the allegations, saying they were a mask for imperialist designs on Venezuela's rich oil reserves.

Trump has made no secret of wanting to share in Venezuela's oil riches. US oil companies' shares jumped on Monday, fueled by the prospect ⁠of access to those vast reserves.

While world leaders and US politicians grappled with the extraordinary seizure of a head of state, an emergency order in Venezuela, published in full on Monday, ordered police to search and capture anyone who supported Saturday's US attack.

US Special Forces had swooped into Caracas by helicopter on Saturday, shattering Maduro’s security cordon and dragging him from the threshold of a safe room.

On Monday morning, Maduro – his hands zip-tied – and his wife were escorted by armed guards in tactical gear from a Brooklyn detention centre to a helicopter bound for the Manhattan federal court.

Judge Hellerstein began the hearing by summarising the charges in the indictment.

Shackled at the ankles and wearing orange and beige prison garb, Maduro listened on headphones through an interpreter. Hellerstein asked Maduro to stand and confirm his identity. He replied in Spanish.

The judge told the couple of their right to inform the Venezuelan consulate of their arrests.

RTHK's US correspondent, Simon Marks, said 92-year-old Hellerstein has a reputation of being an "independent thinker".

"He's been sitting on the bench since former (US) President Bill Clinton sent him to the federal bench back in 1998," he told Hong Kong Today programme.

"And despite his age, he is very spry. He made it absolutely clear that any suggestions that he was just overseeing the procedural hearing today were wrong, that he does intend to oversee the full trial."

Prosecutors say Maduro has been involved in drug trafficking from the time he began serving in Venezuela's National Assembly in 2000 to his tenure as foreign minister and subsequent 2013 election as the late president Hugo Chavez's successor.

Maduro's lawyer, Barry Pollack, said he anticipated voluminous and complex litigation over what he called his client's "military abduction."

He said Maduro was not requesting his release but may later.

Flores's lawyer, Mark Donnelly, said she sustained significant injuries including severe bruising on her ribs and asked that she be provided X-rays and a physical evaluation.

Federal prosecutors in New York first indicted Maduro in 2020 as part of a long-running narcotics trafficking case against current and former Venezuelan officials and Colombian guerrillas.

An updated indictment made public on Saturday added some new details and co-defendants, including Cilia Flores. (Reuters/AFP)