The U.S. Coast Guard said Thursday it had seized another tanker contravening U.S. sanctions on Venezuela’s oil exports. The vessel was apprehended in the Caribbean Sea, the latest in a growing list since the ouster of Venezuelan dictator Nicolas Maduro on January 3.
The ghost tanker, Veronica, was boarded in a predawn operation “without incident.”
Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem wrote on social media site X the operation was a complete success, “Motor Tanker Veronica had previously passed through Venezuelan waters, and was operating in defiance of President Trump’s established quarantine of sanctioned vessels in the Caribbean.”
Noem’s posting included a video that showed part of the ship’s capture.
The black-and-white footage showed helicopters hovering over the deck of a merchant vessel while armed troops descended by rope.
A social media post from U.S. Southern Command on the capture confirmed Marines and sailors launched from the aircraft carrier USS Gerald R. Ford in the operation.
The post set out, “The interception, boarding, and seizure of the Guyana-flagged, sanctions-violating crude oil tanker M/T Veronica in the southern Caribbean, near the coast of Venezuela.
“The operation was executed by the U.S. Coast Guard, with support from Marines and Sailors assigned to Joint Task Force-Southern Spear (JTF-SS). The boarding team launched from the aircraft carrier USS Gerald R. Ford (CVN-78) as part of a joint effort between the U.S. Department of Defense and the Department of Homeland Security.
Noem’s post noted that, as in previous raids, a U.S. Coast Guard tactical team conducted the boarding and seizure.
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The ship is currently listed as flying the flag of Guyana and is considered part of the shadow fleet that moves cargoes of oil in violation of U.S. sanctions.
AP reports according to its registration data, the ship also has been known as the Gallileo, owned and managed by a company in Russia. In addition, a tanker with the same registration number previously sailed under the name Pegas and was sanctioned by the U.S. Treasury Department for moving cargoes of illicit Russian oil.
FRANCE24 reports the Veronica is the sixth tanker that has been seized by U.S. forces as part of the effort by President Donald Trump’s administration to control the production, refining and global distribution of Venezuela’s oil products.
Since the U.S. military strikes on Venezuela and seizure of Maduro, Trump has said he plans to tap into the country’s huge oil reserves. A U.S. official said Wednesday the U.S. had completed its first sale of Venezuelan oil, valued at $500m.
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