CARACAS, Venezuela — The authorities detained several executives of the country’s top pharmacy chain over the weekend amid accusations that retailers were seeking to maintain long lines outside stores as part of what President Nicolás Maduro called a “guerrilla tactic” to sow discontent in the economically beleaguered nation.

“I’ve got some conspirators, owners of a chain of stores, jailed by the Sebin,” Mr. Maduro said Sunday in a television appearance, referring to the country’s intelligence police. “I have asked the national prosecutor’s office to speed up the charges so that they are well jailed for sabotaging the Venezuelan people with their chain of stores.”

He did not identify the company, but he appeared to be referring to the Farmatodo drugstore chain.

He said inspectors had visited a store and found irregularities. “Where there are 10 cash registers, they have three cashiers, and the three cashiers they have, they put to work unloading a truck, and that way they sabotage the whole chain because their goal is to irritate people,” Mr. Maduro said.

Farmatodo released a statement saying that it had been visited by the intelligence police and government inspectors and that “company executives were invited to make declarations to the Sebin.”