US forces seized another tanker in the Caribbean Sea, officials said, as Washington continued efforts to control Venezuelan oil exports.
“Once again, our combined interagency forces sent a clear message this morning: ‘there is no safe haven for criminals,'” the US Southern Command said in X.
The X post on Friday morning said that Marines and sailors in coordination with the Department of Homeland Security “captured” the oil tanker in Olina.
Homeland security secretary Kristi Noem said the Olina was “another ‘ghost fleet’ tanker suspected of carrying embargoed oil” and was seized after it “left Venezuela trying to evade US forces”.
Noem posted a video online showing troops dropping onto a ship from a helicopter. The tanker, the Olina, is on the sanctions list of several countries.
This is the fifth ship seized by the US in recent weeks.
Maritime risk firm Vanguard Tech said the vessel had attempted to breach the US naval blockade of the Caribbean.
It added that the vessel’s location tracker was last active 52 days ago, northeast of Curacao, and that “the seizure follows a long pursuit of tankers involved in the unauthorized shipment of Venezuelan oil in the region”.