US troops boarded an oil tanker in a pre-dawn action on Friday, the US Southern Command announced.
“In a pre-dawn action, Marines and Sailors from Joint Task Force Southern Spear, in coordination with the Department of Homeland Security, launched from the USS Gerald R. Ford and arrested motor/tanker Olina in the Caribbean Sea without incident,” the U.S. Southern Command wrote in a message on X.
Two silhouettes of children are seen carrying a net at a fishing pier as a crude oil tanker docks in the background at Lake Maracaibo in Maracaibo, Venezuela, on January 8, 2026. (Margioni Bermúdez/AFP via Getty Images)
“These types of arrests are supported by the full force of the U.S. Navy’s Amphibious Ready Group, including the ready and lethal platforms of the USS Iwo Jima, USS San Antonio and USS Fort Lauderdale,” the statement said. “The War Department’s Operation Southern Spear is steadfast in its mission to defend our homeland by ending illegal activities and restoring security to the Western Hemisphere.”
Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said “the world’s criminals are on notice” after the latest operation.
‘Early this morning the [U.S. Coast Guard] conducted an arrest and seizure of the Motor Tanker Olina in international waters east of the Caribbean Sea. “Like another “ghost fleet” tanker ship suspected of carrying embargoed oil, this ship had left Venezuela in an attempt to evade U.S. forces,” Noem said. wrote on X.
“The ghost fleets will not escape justice. They will not hide under false claims of nationality.
The Coast Guard will seize sanctioned oil tankers, enforce U.S. and international law, and eliminate these funding streams for illegal activities, including narco-terrorism,” Noem added. She also commended the U.S. Coast Guard for its “relentless execution of this mission.”
This is the fifth such seizure in recent weeks and comes less than a week after the US carried out a daring operation in Venezuela that arrested dictator Nicolás Maduro and his wife, Cili Flores.
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