BRASÍLIA, April 16, 2026 (AFP) - Brazil's fugitive former intelligence chief was released Wednesday by US immigration authorities after being detained for two days, according to reports.

Alexandre Ramagem, who headed the Brazilian intelligence agency ABIN from 2019 to 2022, was a close confidant of former president Jair Bolsonaro.

Both were convicted for their roles in an attempted coup plot to keep the latter in power after the 2022 election won by current leftist president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva.

Ramagem, 53, had been sentenced to 16 years in prison, but local media reported that he left Brazil via the border with Guyana, bypassing immigration controls, and entered the United States on a diplomatic passport.

On Monday he was detained by US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents.

Brazilian police had said in a statement that ICE had detained "a fugitive from Brazilian justice following his conviction for the crimes of armed criminal association, attempted coup d'etat, and the attempted violent abolition of the rule of law."

Eduardo Bolsonaro, one of the former president's sons who lives in the United States, wrote on X on Wednesday that "Ramagem is out and at home."

Brazilian media reported Ramagem was out of custody without providing further details.

A search of an ICE database does not show a result for Ramagem, despite his name being listed two days earlier.

ICE did not immediately respond to a request for comment from AFP.

Brazil had formally requested the extradition of Ramagem in December.