WASHINGTON/LONDON ¨C The U.S. Coast Guard is waiting for additional forces to arrive before potentially attempting to board and seize a Venezuela-linked oil tanker it has been pursuing since Sunday, a U.S. official and a source familiar with the matter said.
The ship, which maritime groups have identified as the Bella 1, has refused to be boarded by the coast guard. ?That means that the task will likely fall to one of just two teams of specialists ¡ª known as Maritime Security Response ?Teams ¡ª who can ?board vessels under these circumstances, including by rappelling from helicopters.
The dayslong pursuit highlights the mismatch between the Trump ?administration¡¯s desire to seize sanctioned oil tankers near Venezuela and the limited resources of the agency that is mainly carrying out operations, the coast guard.
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