British jets join hunt for Venezuelan oil tanker in North Atlantic 'off British Isles'
Known as the Marinera, the ship is located in the North Atlantic Ocean, not too far from the UK coast, and is flying under the Russian flag
RAF fighter jets scrambled to hunt for a Venezuelan oil tanker in the Atlantic yesterday as the US plotted to seize it.
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British Typhoon jets were launched into action after the Trump administration wanted to launch a raid on the ship.
The military would rather "seize it than sink it", CBS News reports.
Known as the Marinera, the ship is located in the North Atlantic Ocean, not far from the UK coast, and is flying under the Russian flag.
The vessel is sanctioned and has previously been involved with the Iranian oil trade.
The hastily reflagged oil tanker was under US military surveillance roughly 250 miles off the coast of Ireland after evading interception in the Caribbean last month, changing its name, and turning north towards Russia.
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The vessel, formerly known as Bella 1, has been renamed Marinera, re-registered in Russia, and had a crudely painted Russian flag slapped onto its hull.
The move appears designed to deter a possible US seizure as it approached waters near the British Isles.
The tanker is believed to be one of around a dozen vessels attempting to slip past a US naval blockade targeting Venezuelan oil shipments.
It is not, however, carrying crude from Venezuela.
The US bombed Venezuela on Saturday before forces took Maduro and flew him to New York where he is facing drugs and weapons charges.
Trump said the mission to remove President Maduro proves the US has "the most powerful, most lethal, most sophisticated" military in the world.
Speaking at the House Republican Party (GOP) member retreat on Tuesday, the president warned "nobody can take us".
Last month the US Coast Guard led a raid on The Skipper, a ship used to transport sanctioned oil from Venezuela and Iran.
The US says the network of shadow vessels raises funds for 'foreign terrorist organisations', justifying armed US personnel abseiling from helicopters onto the seized tanker.
Flight tracking data shows the Marinera has been closely monitored over the past 48 hours by US Navy P-8 Poseidon surveillance aircraft operating out of RAF Mildenhall in Suffolk.
The aircraft tracked the ship as it crossed the Atlantic on a course that could bring it into Ireland’s exclusive economic zone, around 230 miles from the coast.