US forces interdict another fugitive tanker ship in Indian Ocean

American forces operating in the Indian Ocean intercepted another fugitive tanker ship, the Department of War announced Tuesday. 

The development comes after President Donald Trump announced a blockade of all sanctioned oil tankers going in and out of Venezuela in mid-December, as Washington increased its naval presence in the Caribbean to put pressure on now-former Venezuelan dictator Nicolás Maduro. 

The ship involved in Tuesday’s interdiction — the Bertha — was flagged by The New York Times as leaving Venezuela’s main oil port in early January following the U.S. military operation to capture Maduro. 

“Overnight, U.S. forces conducted a right-of-visit, maritime interdiction and boarding of the Bertha without incident in the INDOPACOM area of responsibility,” the Department of War said on X. “The vessel was operating in defiance of President Trump’s established quarantine of sanctioned vessels in the Caribbean and attempted to evade.” 

“From the Caribbean to the Indian Ocean, we tracked it and stopped it. No other nation has the global reach, endurance, or will to enforce sanctions at this distance,” it added. 

The Department of War said three boats that tried to flee the scene were captured. 

“International waters are not a refuge for sanctioned actors. By land, air, or sea, our forces will find you and deliver justice,” it also said. “The Department of War will deny illicit actors and their proxies freedom of maneuver in the maritime domain.”

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U.S. forces previously intercepted the Veronica III oil tanker on Feb. 15 in the Indo-Pacific. 

According to OpenSanctions, the Veronica III is listed on the U.S. Treasury Department’s Specially Designated Nationals sanctions list.

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That tanker, a large crude oil carrier built in 2006 and flagged in Panama, has been linked to the transport of hundreds of thousands of metric tons of sanctioned Iranian oil and is affiliated with a Chinese ship-management company that has also been sanctioned. 

Fox News Digital’s Ashley Carnahan contributed to this report. 

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