The United States military has seized two more oil tankers allegedly associated with the trade of sanctioned Venezuelan oil as it continues a blockade of crude exports announced by US President Donald Trump last year, prior to the US intervention and extraction of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro.

One of the seized tankers was identified by US forces as the BELLA1 (9230880), the vessel that two weeks ago fled into the Atlantic Ocean, evading US boarding and later re-emerged flying a Russian flag.

The US European Command announced the seizure of the vessel for violations of US sanctions. According to the European Command, it was seized in the North Atlantic pursuant to a warrant issued by a US Federal court.