Buenos Aires, Jun 3 (IANS/EFE): The chief of the Argentine Federal Police's dangerous drugs division was shot at outside his house, an official said.

Nestor Roncaglia was shot in the chest and hand Saturday night in Olivos, a northern suburb of Buenos Aires, Security Secretary Sergio Berni said Sunday.

"We are not ruling out any theory because it would be irresponsible to say what happpened, but we are convinced it was not a common assault," Berni told the press.

Roncaglia is out of danger but remains in the intensive care unit of a Buenos Aires hospital.

The drug enforcement chief was shot after overseeing several raids, police spokesmen told the official Telam news agency.

Roncaglia spotted two suspicious men outside his house and ordered them to halt.

The suspects opened fire on Roncaglia, who returned fire with his service weapon.

Investigators are trying to determine whether a man taken to a hospital in the Buenos Aires suburb of Pilar with a gunshot wound was one of the criminals involved in the attack on Roncaglia, officials said.