VENEZUELAN soldiers have gone on trial over a suspected coup plot linked to a senior former general.

Military prosecutors said on Thursday that a brigadier, a lieutenant and seven sergeants had plotted to steal 52 sniper rifles, 20 pistols and more than 5,000 rounds of ammunition from an arsenal.

The plot was to count on armed supporters in the capital Caracas and the states of Bolivar, Carabobo and Zulia.

The prosecution at the court-martial alleged the sergeants had been called together to form “a security ring with the purpose of protecting the ‘daddy’,” a code name for retired general and former defence minister Raul Baduel.

Mr Baduel is an erstwhile ally of the late president Hugo Chavez and a rallying figure for the right-wing opposition and Western human rights organisations.

He was jailed in 2009 for corruption but transferred to house arrest until he was found to be absent last month and sent back to prison.