Peru's most wanted fugitive, Mr Vladimiro Montesinos, was returned to Lima from Venezuela yesterday under tight security. He faces trial on dozens of charges, including money laundering, drugs trafficking and masterminding death squad killings.
Mr Montesinos smiled briefly as he was escorted by agents into a helicopter shortly after arriving at Lima airport just before 10 a.m.
He was flown to the headquarters of the special operations unit of the police, a former hacienda to the east of the capital. This is where the police burn the drugs they seize in anti-trafficking operations.
The former spy chief was detained in Venezuela on Saturday night, ending an eight-month international manhunt.
The search began when he slipped out of Peru on a yacht during the final days of Mr Alberto Fujimori's presidency.
He is alleged to have paid money to Peru's courts, congress, media and military for a decade, and is accused of accumulating a personal fortune of at least $264 million.
He is credited with running Peru's biggest corruption network from his base in the secret service.
The Peruvian Interior Minister, Mr Antonio Ketin Vidal, travelled to Caracas to collect him.
The Venezuelan President, Mr Hugo Chavez, announced on Sunday that Mr Montesinos had been captured by military intelligence agents, and denied that his government had been sheltering him for months.
The Peruvian Justice Minister, Mr Diego Garcia-Sayan, said the Peruvian police and the FBI collaborated with the Venezuelan security services to capture Mr Montesinos.
The Lima daily newspaper La Republica reported that a Venezuelan arrested by the FBI in Miami last week, who was trying to obtain funds lodged on Mr Montesinos's behalf, led agents to the fugitive.
It said agents forced their way into a small flat in Caracas, where they found Mr Montesinos, unarmed and alone, standing with his arms in the air.
Mr Montesinos is believed to have information about corrupt dealings at the heart of Mr Fujimori's government which could incriminate dozens of former officials.
Mr Montesinos's arrest complicates the position of Mr Fujimori, who fled to Tokyo last November.