Seizure of rogue oil tanker off Venezuela signals new U.S. crackdown on shadow fleet World Dec 12, 2025 8:35 PM EST

MIAMI (AP) — The oil tanker was navigating near the coast of Guyana recently when its location transponder showed it starting to zigzag. It was a seemingly improbable maneuver and the latest digital clue that the ship, the Skipper, was trying to obscure its whereabouts and the valuable cargo stored inside its hull: tens of millions of dollars’ worth of illicit crude oil.

On Wednesday, U.S. commandos fast-roping from helicopters seized the 332-meter (1,090-feet) ship — not where it appeared to be navigating on ship tracking platforms but some 360 nautical miles to the northwest, near the coast of Venezuela.

The seizure marked a dramatic escalation in President Donald Trum

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