LOC21:26
18:26 GMT
WASHINGTON, Jan 15 (KUNA) -- The US has announced that it had seized a sixth sanctioned Venezuelan-linked oil vessel in an operation carried out in the early hours of Thursday in the Caribbean Sea.
Tweeting on "X", US Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem wrote that early this morning, a US Coast Guard tactical team carried out a boarding operation and seized the oil tanker, Veronica, in the Caribbean Sea.
She added that the ship had previously passed through Venezuelan waters and was operating in defiance of President Donald Trump's "established quarantine of sanctioned vessels in the Caribbean."
The operation was highly successful, and it was carried out, in accordance with international law and in close coordination between the departments of defense, state and justice, she added.
The US Coast Guard has been on high alert to face this threat everywhere and at every time, Noem stressed.
Meanwhile, the U.S. Southern Command (SOUTHCOM made a detailed statement on the seizure of the oil tanker and posted a video which showed boarding the vessel. (end)
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