Venezuela allegedly used threats to ensure the release a former spy who had been detained Thursday in Aruba based on a U.S. warrant.

There are credible reports of threats from the Venezuelan government to Aruba and the Netherlands to force the release of Hugo Carvajal Barrios (Carvajal), U.S. State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki said in a statement Monday.

Carvajal was detained upon his arrival in Aruba Thursday as an official consul from Venezuela to the island about 15 miles off the country's coast.

Carvajal was the highest ranking of three top Venezuelan officials named on U.S. warrants in connection to drug trafficking allegations Thursday, based on a treaty signed between the U.S. and the Netherlands.

The other two are Benny Palmeri-Bacchi, a former Venezuelan judge, who was also arrested Thursday in Miami, and Rodolfo McTurk, a former Interpol director, who has not been arrested, according to the The New York Times.

The three are allegedly part of a group of top government officials who got rich off of investments in drug trafficking -- known as "Cartels of the Sun"' -- by providing shelter to Colombian traffickers and investing in the smuggling of the drugs to the U.S.

On Sunday, Carvajal was released when the Netherlands announced he was protected by diplomatic immunity. This announcement came two days after a judge in Aruba denied his claims for diplomatic immunity, according to the Wall Street Journal.

He returned to Venezuela and received a hero's welcome, and the country considered it a victory over the U.S., according to the International Business Times. Venezuela briefly halted flights to-and-from Aruba Friday to protest the arrest, and likened the detainment to an ambush.

The U.S. is upset over the Netherlands' actions and said threats from Venezuela were likely at play.

"This is not the way law enforcement matters should be handled," Psaki said. Without revealing details, she said the reports of threats were "more than media reports."

Aruba's chief prosecutor Peter Blanken said Venezuelan navy ships had been seen headed toward the Caribbean islands over the weekend.

"The threat was there," Blanken said.