Staff Reporter: The U.S. has seized two oil tankers linked to Venezuela, Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Kristi Noem said Wednesday.
Noem shared a video of the operations to the social platform X at 9:22 a.m. EST.
“In two predawn operations today, the Coast Guard conducted back-to-back meticulously coordinated boarding of two ‘ghost fleet’ tanker ships— one in the North Atlantic Sea and one in international waters near the Caribbean,” she wrote.
The vessels, the Motor Tanker Bella I and the Motor Tanker Sophia, were located in the North Atlantic and in international waters near the Caribbean, respectively.
The Bella 1 had reportedly changed its name to the Marinera and was reflagged from a Guyanese to a Russian vessel. Russia had reportedly deployed a submarine to help escort it across the ocean.
The U.S. European Command (USEUCOM) said Wednesday on X that the Defense Department, in conjunction with the Department of Justice (DOJ) and Department of Homeland Security (DHS), seized the Bella 1 ship “for violations of U.S. sanctions.”
The operations mark the third and fourth such seizures the U.S. has carried out in the last month. It also comes days after the capture of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores.
Noem and USEUCOM added that the Bella 1 tanker was seized pursuant to a warrant issued by a U.S. federal court and was tracked by the U.S. Coast Guard MUNRO, a sixth Legend Class cutter homeported in Alameda, Ca.
President Trump ordered a blockade of all sanctioned oil tankers going into and out of Venezuela last month.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said on X that the “blockade of sanctioned and illicit Venezuelan oil remains in FULL EFFECT — anywhere in the world.”
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