Bogota: A handful of Venezuelan soldiers - armed and in uniform - have been caught in neighbouring Guyana begging for food, local police reported, another sign of Venezuela's deepening hunger crisis.

Guyanese Police Inspector Christopher Humphrey said he'd gone to the border along the Amacuro river, which divides the two nations, last week to investigate reports that the Venezuelan military was stealing food from locals. But the three soldiers he encountered - two carrying military assault rifles - said they had come to beg for meals and hadn't harmed anyone.

Venezuela's President Nicolas Maduro at a military parade commemorating the country's Independence Day in Caracas on July 5. Credit:AP

Humphrey said the men had crossed into Guyana on a wooden raft and seemed genuinely hungry.

"They were desperate," he said. "They were here for some time and they showed me a can of sardines and the place where they had cooked it over a fire."