LIMA - Peru's ex-president Alejandro Toledo, who is wanted in his country on corruption charges, was arrested early Tuesday in the United States, Peruvian judicial officials said.

"The attorney general's office ... reports that the former president Alejandro Toledo Manrique was arrested this morning in the United States over an extradition request (by Peru)," the attorney general's office wrote on its official Twitter account.

Toledo was being brought before US authorities "as part of the process aimed at securing his return to the country," said prosecutors.

The former head of state, who has been living in the United States since 2017, is accused of various crimes, including accepting bribes from Brazilian construction giant Odebrecht in exchange for a government contract to build the Interoceanic Highway linking Peru and Brazil.

Charges have also been brought against his wife Eliane Karp, and his former head of security Avraham Dan On, and his son Shai Dan On.

Extradition proceedings could take up to a year and a half.

Revelations that Odebrecht regularly bribed officials in Latin America to secure lucrative government contracts have tainted a string of Peruvian presidents, including Ollanta Humala, Pedro Pablo Kuczynski and the late Alan Garcia during his second term in office.

Humala was arrested in 2017 and is awaiting trial. Kuczynski resigned to avoid an impeachment trial in 2018.