Overnight, the U.S. Navy boarded the tanker "Aquila II" somewhere in the Indian Ocean. The tanker was carrying some 700,000 barrels of Venezuelan crude oil valued at between $31.5 and $35 million. The Department of War made the announcement early Monday morning.
When the @DeptofWar says quarantine, we mean it. Nothing will stop DoW from defending our Homeland — even in oceans halfway around the world.
— Department of War 🇺🇸 (@DeptofWar) February 9, 2026
Overnight, U.S. military forces conducted a right-of-visit, maritime interdiction and boarding on the Aquila II without incident in the… pic.twitter.com/kYVAQC5io9
When the @DeptofWar says quarantine, we mean it. Nothing will stop DoW from defending our Homeland — even in oceans halfway around the world.
Overnight, U.S. military forces conducted a right-of-visit, maritime interdiction and boarding on the Aquila II without incident in the INDOPACOM area of responsibility.
The Aquila II was operating in defiance of President Trump's established quarantine of sanctioned vessels in the Caribbean. It ran, and we followed. The Department of War tracked and hunted this vessel from the Caribbean to the Indian Ocean. No other nation on planet Earth has the capability to enforce its will through any domain. By land, air, or sea, our Armed Forces will find you and deliver justice. You will run out of fuel long before you will outrun us.
The Department of War will deny illicit actors and their proxies the ability to defy American power in the global maritime domain.
If anyone doubted the administration was serious about stamping out the market in bootleg oil, let that doubt be assuaged. You don't pursue a tanker from Venezuela to the Indian Ocean on a lark.
The Aquila II was spotted taking on oil in Venezuela at the time former Venezuelan dictator Nicolas Maduro was plucked out of his bed for a surprise trip to New York.
The four tankers are AQUILA II (9281152), BERTHA (9292163), VERONICA III (9326055) and VESNA (9233349). Here are three of them, spotted by @TankerTrackers in a single @CopernicusEU satellite image taken yesterday, leaving Venezuela’s main oil port and heading northeast. pic.twitter.com/yH7BRMlrF7
— Christiaan Triebert (@trbrtc) January 5, 2026
At the time it was loading, the Aquila II was using an alias.
AQUILA II (9281152) is one of the tankers that departed on the morning Maduro was arrested (2026-01-03). Her zombie alias at the time was "CAPE BALDER" as you can see in a photo we took from the shores of #Venezuela ahead of her departure. She was partially laden. #OOTT #tankers https://t.co/SEhxjbKXF7 pic.twitter.com/5LvPSsbqbH
— TankerTrackers.com, Inc. (@TankerTrackers) February 9, 2026
The Aquila II is a Suezmax tanker. These are the largest ships that can transit the Suez Canal; they are typically about 900 feet long and have a capacity of 120,000 to 200,000 deadweight tons; see 'Dark Fleet' Tanker Seized Near Venezuela Ran Sanctioned Oil to China, Says House Committee – RedState. They carry about 800,000 to more than 1,000,000 barrels. Aquila II is one of 73 such vessels in Russia's "dark fleet," or "shadow fleet," of unregistered, illegally operated tankers that transport Venezuelan and Iranian oil to China.
Aquila II was flying a Panamanian flag at the time of capture. There is no definitive information available about its owner or operator, but it appears to be owned by the Hong Kong-based Sunne Company. That "company is affiliated with an anonymous Chinese buyer who spent about $376 million to acquire a group of 13 tankers for the high-risk transportation of crude oil of Russian origin in the Atlantic Ocean." The Treasury Department sanctioned it in January 2025.
The Aquila II has been sanctioned for moving Russian oil several times.
- On January 10, 2025, USA imposed sanctions on the vessel as a property in which SUNNE CO LIMITED has an interest.
- Since September 12, 2025, the United Kingdom has imposed sanctions on the vessel.
- Since October 24, 2025, the EU has imposed sanctions on the vessel.
- In November 2025, Canada imposed sanctions on the vessel.
- Since December 13, 2025, Switzerland has imposed sanctions on the vessel.
The tanker was apparently en route to China.
What we do not know at this point is whether the tanker has been seized. The press release refers to the operation as "a right-of-visit, maritime interdiction and boarding." I'm assuming that taking control of the tanker is part of the operation, but in the absence of a definitive statement, I don't want to get out over my skis on this.
President Trump's war on the "dark fleet/shadow fleet" is having an unexpected consequence. The tankers are congregating in what is portrayed as a fairly lawless area off the coast of Malaysia, seemingly waiting for further instructions or for the heat to die down.
Singapore is sounding the alarm on shadow fleet tankers -- and @WindwardAI's platform shows where all the sanctioned, stateless (ie falsely flagged vessels broadcasting the AIS of fraudulent registries) are right now. Those are in black. The red are falsely flagged vessels that… https://t.co/uQgjfjdSp6 pic.twitter.com/nn8bzuLJf2
— Michelle Wiese Bockmann (@Michellewb_) February 6, 2026
This is also known as a "cluster of targets."
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