US forces have seized the tanker “Aquila II” in the Indian Ocean. It is already the eighth ship since the operations began.
The ship had sailed from Venezuela on the same day that President Nicolás Maduro was arrested by American forces. The “Aquila II“, a 22-year-old Suezmax-sized tanker, was partially loaded at the time of the seizure. The ship – previously registered under the name “Cape Balder” – is now on its way to Singapore. It is on the sanctions lists of the EU, the UK and the USA, as it is said to be part of the shadow fleet network used by Russia to circumvent sanctions against its oil exports. The “Aquila II” sent false AIS data several times, the last transmission is currently almost 100 days old and locates the ship in the Baltic Sea.
“The War Department tracked and hunted this ship from the Caribbean to the Indian Ocean,” the ministry said in a social media post. “No other nation in the world is capable of imposing its will in any domain. Whether on land, in the air or at sea, our forces will find you and bring you justice. You will run out of fuel long before you can escape us.”
It is the next US strike against Venezuela’s illegal oil exports. Since the start of operations in December, America has seized a total of eight tankers. The seizure of the “Skipper”, a VLCC tanker (310,000 tdw), on December 10 caused a worldwide stir. There were accusations of “theft” and “piracy” from Venezuela. Russia also called the operations “illegal” and threatened to take measures against ships flying the US flag.
The most recent intervention is also the furthest away from the USA and Venezuela. On the one hand, the incident shows what means sanctioned operators resort to in order to remain undetected – and that the Americans find them anyway.
