The US has seized a plane owned by Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, claiming it was illegally purchased for $13m (£9.8m) and smuggled out of the country.
According to the US Department of Justice, the Falcon 900EX aircraft was seized in the Dominican Republic and shipped to the US state of Florida.
It is unclear how or when the plane arrived in the Dominican Republic. Tracking data shows it departed La Isabela Airport near the capital Santo Domingo on Monday and arrived at Fort Lauderdale Airport in Florida shortly afterward.
There has been no comment from Mr Maduro or the Venezuelan government on the matter.
The plane was seized on suspicion of violating US export control and sanctions laws, US officials said.
They added that the investigation had found that people linked to Mr Maduro allegedly used a Caribbean-based front company to conceal their involvement in the illegal purchase of aircraft from a Florida-based company in late 2022 and early 2023.
The aircraft was then illegally transported from the United States to Venezuela via the Caribbean in April 2023.
The argument by US officials that the sale and export of the aircraft violates US sanctions may not be of interest to President Maduro, who has repeatedly accused the US of meddling in his country’s internal affairs.
A White House national security council spokesman said the move was “an important step to ensure Maduro continues to suffer the consequences of his mismanagement of Venezuela.”
Markenzy Lapointe, the US attorney for the Southern District of Florida, said Dominican Republic authorities provided the US government with “invaluable assistance” in organizing the arrest.
“No matter how luxurious the private jet or how powerful the officials, we will work tirelessly with our partners here and around the globe to identify and return any aircraft illegally smuggled out of the United States,” said Matthew S Axelrod of the Commerce Department — one of the federal agencies involved in the aircraft recovery operation.
The plane appears to have flown to Venezuela’s capital Caracas after arriving in Kingston in Saint Vincent and the Grenadines in April 2023, according to data from the website Flightradar24.
The plane then flew “almost exclusively to and from a military base in Venezuela,” US officials said. It is unclear how or when the plane arrived in the Dominican Republic.
But US officials said the jet had been used by Mr Maduro “on visits to other countries”.
The Venezuelan government announced in late July that it would temporarily suspend commercial flights to both the Dominican Republic and Panama following Maduro’s controversial re-election.
Venezuela’s opposition has released polling data showing its unity candidate, Edmundo González, has won a landslide victory. However, his victory has not yet been recognized by an electoral council loyal to Mr Maduro.
The European Union has refused to recognize Maduro’s re-election victory in July without seeing the vote results.
Several Latin American countries have also broken ranks with Mr Maduro, including his former ally, Brazil’s President Lula, who has called for full transparency from the Venezuelan government.
The United States has recognized Mr González as the winner, saying there is “clear” evidence of Maduro’s defeat.
This is not the first time Mr. Maduro or the Venezuelan government has been targeted by the US federal government for alleged corruption.
In 2020, the justice department charged Mr. Maduro and 14 Venezuelan officials with narco-terrorism, corruption and drug trafficking, among other crimes.
The State Department has offered a reward of up to $15 million for information leading to the arrest or conviction of Mr. Maduro.
