VENEZUELA’S right-wing opposition faced fresh allegations of preparing attacks on Tuesday when a councillor was caught with grenades and bullet-proof vests in his car.

Democratic Unity Roundtable (Mud) coalition councillor Jose Vicente Garcia was captured by the Bolivarian National Intelligence Service (Sebin) in the western state of Tachira, which borders Colombia.

Tachira state Governor Jose Vielma Mora confirmed the arrest on Twitter and posted pictures of Mr Garcia along with the military equipment.

While opposition activists have been arrested before on suspicion of planning violent acts against the socialist government, Mr Garcia was the first elected official to be nabbed.

In late August Sebin arrested Popular Will (VP) student leader Yon Goicochea for possession of explosives, just days before the September 1 Mud regime-change march in the capital Caracas.

VP leader Leopoldo Lopez was jailed last year for almost 14 years for inciting the 2014 “Guarimba” riots that left 43 people dead.

Meanwhile the Communist Party of Venezuela said its member and council leader in Bolivar state’s Heres municipality, Dr Alexander Jimenez, was assaulted by three “fascists” led by Radical Cause party councillor Alcides Estevez, flanked by four bodyguards.

The attack occurred during a meeting to decide on their response to President Nicolas Maduro’s unprecedented move to put the 2017 budget to the people and not the Mud-dominated parliament.