U.S. forces said they boarded and apprehended the motor tanker Olina in international waters in the Caribbean Sea during a pre-dawn operation on January 9, 2026, describing it as part of a “ghost fleet” suspected of moving embargoed oil after departing Venezuela.
In a pre-dawn operation on January 9, 2026, U.S. forces boarded and apprehended the motor tanker Olina in the Caribbean Sea without incident, U.S. Southern Command said.
Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said the U.S. Coast Guard executed the boarding and seizure in international waters east of the Caribbean Sea, describing the vessel as another “ghost fleet” tanker suspected of carrying embargoed oil that had departed Venezuela in an effort to evade U.S. forces. Noem, who posted video of the operation on X, said: “The world’s criminals are on notice.”
U.S. Southern Command said the operation involved Marines and sailors from Joint Task Force Southern Spear who launched from the USS Gerald R. Ford, acting in support of the Department of Homeland Security. Southern Command also said the interdiction was backed by the U.S. Navy’s amphibious ready group, naming the USS Iwo Jima, USS San Antonio, and USS Fort Lauderdale, and included the message: “there is no safe haven for criminals.”
Noem said the interdiction was carried out through an interagency effort involving the State Department, the Department of War, and the Department of Homeland Security. She also said the vessel had previously been sanctioned for carrying Russian oil and was formerly known as the Minerva M.
The Daily Wire report also said the interdiction followed other tanker actions earlier in the week, including the seizure of a vessel it identified as the Marinera, described as flying a Russian flag after bypassing the blockade, and a second tanker, Bella 1, described in the report as having been targeted over alleged oil shipments to Iran. The details and naming around those earlier seizures have been reported inconsistently in other coverage and could not be independently verified from the Daily Wire’s account alone.
Noem said the United States would continue pursuing sanctions-evading shipping networks, adding: “The ghost fleets will not outrun justice. They will not hide under false claims of nationality.”
